


Blueberry Peach

by SailorChibi



Series: Fruitful [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs a Hug, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst and Fluff, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Episode: s02 Le Marchand de Sable | Sandboy Spoilers, Episode: s02 Style Queen (Queen's Battle Part 1), F/M, Gabriel Agreste knows nothing, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth Identity Reveal, Hiding soulmates, Identity Reveal, Jealous Lila Rossi, Lila Rossi Lies, Lila Rossi salt, Master Fu has made a Mistake, Miraculous Holder Chloé Bourgeois, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, POV Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Soulmate Bond, Soulmate Reveal, Soulmate Telepathy, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Telepathy, and now they all get to deal with the consequences, no lovesquare drama here, no one knows they're soulmates except for chloe, our babies are solidly together and will stay that way, soulmate laws, soulmate words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 42,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25640503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: Marinette and Adrien have their miraculous back, but life is not smooth sailing. With Audrey Bourgeois in town, the mysterious identity of Lynx still unknown, and Hawkmoth rapidly closing in, they're going to need every last advantage their bond can give them to win.31 days of story for Adrien AUGreste.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Series: Fruitful [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556713
Comments: 966
Kudos: 1549





	1. Civilian

**Author's Note:**

> Since I did Marinette March, I decided to close out my collection of miraculous prompt months with Adrien AUG-reste. This should be the last part of the Fruitful verse. I remain ever hopeful I'll keep up my streak of posting once a day, but this girl is very, very tired so.... we'll see how it goes.
> 
> As always, I will be using the prompts from the Adrien AUGreste discord for chapter titles and inspiration. Don't like it? Get lost.

In that moment, all Chat could think about what that they didn't need to be soulmates for him to know that Marinette was panicking big time. 

But they were, and her emotions flowed through their bond like an unstoppable waterfall. First fear, then anger, then frustration, then _terror_ so potent that it made his knees weak. Chat gritted his teeth, his eyes darting across the front of the school. He knew from their bond that she was hiding in one of the first floor classrooms, but she was doing a good job at keeping herself hidden. 

'Stay calm, My Lady,' he thought, pushing as much as calm and reassurance across their bond as he could. When that did nothing to help, he took a quick glimpse of the situation through her eyes and tried not to grimace. Okay, yeah, he could see why she was freaking out.

'You think?!' she thought hysterically. 'Chat, what do I do?'

That was a very good question.

One that Chat didn't have an answer to.

"I mean it, Ladybug!" Antielle shouted. Chat grunted quietly as the akuma's grip tightened, squeezing the air out of his body. She was unfairly strong. Then he stilled, not even daring to swallow, as the tip of her spear started to dig into his chin. He felt a sharp bite of pain and then something wet roll down his throat.

There was a tingle of magic in the back of his head and then Ladybug appeared, launching herself out one of the classroom windows and landing on the ground about a dozen feet away. To anyone who didn't know her well, she looked composed. But Chat could see the spark of panic in her eyes.

"Don't even think about calling for a Lucky Charm," Antielle said coldly. "Or I'll kill him right now."

'Let her do it,' Chat thought. 'You can just bring me back with the miraculous cure.'

'Absolutely _not_ ,' Ladybug thought back. Her fear was a sour taste on the back of his tongue. She couldn't bear losing him again...

There was no way Ladybug was going to agree to that, and frankly he couldn't blame her. But he wasn't sure that they had the luxury of choice. Right now, Antielle had forced both of his hands flat against his body. If he tried to use Catacylsm, he'd only end up hurting himself anyway. He struggled a little, but Antielle's grip was like iron and with every second she pressed the spear a little harder against his chin. It stung, but it was a pain he could ignore until she went too deep -

And then, in the distance, there was a huge crashing sound.

Antielle startled and her grip loosened a fraction.

Chat seized his chance; he jerked one hand free and yelled, "Cataclysm!" while slamming said hand against Antielle's mask.

The mask dissolved as she shrieked in surprise and let him go.

He stumbled away, belatedly realizing that it hadn't worked: she was still akumatized.

"Venom!" Queen Bee roared, scaring the daylights out of him. Chat barely got out of the way as Queen Bee leapt upon Antielle and stabbed her with the tip of her stinger. Antielle went stiff as a board and toppled over.

For a moment, there was silence.

"God that was satisfying," Queen Bee said breathlessly. "Can I stab everyone who annoys me like this?"

"No," Chat said automatically. "How did you -?" He let the question die as he glanced over at the tree and saw Nino standing there, holding the end of Antielle's yoyo in his hands. Immediately, he realized that Nino must have helped Queen Bee to untangle herself. 

"Are you okay?" Ladybug asked, suddenly appearing at Chat's side. "You're bleeding." She reached up to touch his chin.

'I'm fine,' Chat thought, grabbing her hand and kissing it. 'She scared me, but that's about it.'

'She scared me too,' Ladybug thought, and her feelings flooding through the bond were so _raw_ , and then her arms went around him in a gentle hug and Chat was hugging her back as tightly as he could. Over the top of her head, he saw Alya come jogging around the side of the building.

"Did it work?" Alya called out.

"Yup, it worked," Nino said.

"Wait. Was that crashing sound you?" Chat asked in surprise.

Alya grinned at him. "I might have _accidentally_ toppled over one of the cabinets in the cafeteria. You know, the ones pots and pans are kept in?" she asked, her expression pure innocence. "I thought that might be enough to distract Antielle and give both you and - uh, what's her name to escape."

"The name is Queen Bee, and need I remind you all that we are on a time limit?" Queen Bee said. As though to underscore her words, a shrill beep echoed through the air as Chat's miraculous lost a pawprint. Moments later, the Bee miraculous echoed that beep and Queen Bee was down to four stripes.

"Right," Ladybug said, pulling away from Chat. She bent down and unclasped the earrings that Antielle was wearing. Queen Bee walked over to Nino and took Antielle's yoyo. They broke both the earrings and the yoyo simultaneously.

Nothing happened.

"Well, shit," Chat said, staring down at Antielle. She might have been frozen, but there was no escaping that frankly murderous look. If Queen Bee detransformed and the effect of Venom wore off, they were all going to regret it.

"It's fine. There's something else," Ladybug murmured, crouching down to take a closer look. Chat bent over her shoulder, giving Antielle's outfit a critical look. Unfortunately, he didn't usually pay that much attention to Lila. He didn't know that he would have noticed the orange hair tie, hidden underneath the red hair ribbon, but Ladybug did. She untied the red ribbon, pulled the orange hair tie free, and easily tore it in two. An akuma fluttered out and began to fly away, but it didn't get very far before a yoyo snapped out and captured it.

As the miraculous cure washed over him, Chat let out a small sigh of relief as the sharp sting in his chin faded away. He rubbed the unblemished skin and turned to smile at his lady in thanks, but she didn't smile back. She was too busy looking down at Lila.

"What happened?" Lila asked dazedly, slowly pushing herself into a sitting position.

"You were akumatized," Alya said, hurrying over to offer Lila a hand up. But as soon as Lila caught sight of Ladybug and Chat Noir, her expression twisted into an angry sneer and she slapped Alya's hand away.

"I don't need help from people who steal miraculous," she snapped, getting to her feet.

Ladybug and Chat exchanged a look.

"The miraculous weren't stolen. They're back in the hands of their rightful owners," Queen Bee told her.

"Lila, wait. Are you okay?" Alya said. 

"Just leave me alone!" Lila yelled at them, before turning on her heel and storming away.

' _That_ is not going to be fun to deal with tomorrow,' Ladybug thought tiredly. 'How did we manage to get someone mad at us in both our civilian _and_ our hero forms?'

'Just lucky, I guess,' Chat thought back, shaking his head. They were going to have to do something about Lila, but what? It wasn't like they could trust her with another miraculous, and she had already proven that she didn't want to be friends. And to be honest, after all the rumors Lila had spread about him and Marinette, he didn't think he _wanted_ to be her friend. Lila Rossi was a brat, and Adrien Agreste already had enough horrible people in his life.

"Wow, she's really upset," Alya said, looking worriedly after Lila. "Should I go after her?"

"Uh, I'd give her some space," Nino said, wrapping an arm around Alya's shoulders. It was hard to tell what he was thinking as he also looked in the direction that Lila had gone. His expression was both thoughtful and solemn at the same time.

Chat's ring beeped again and he realized he was down to two pads now. "I gotta go."

"Me too," said Queen Bee.

"Me three," Ladybug said. She turned to Alya and Nino. "Thanks for your help, guys. Later!" She threw out her yoyo and let it take her away; Queen Bee followed with her stinger, and Chat brought up the rear with his baton.

"Oh, but I wanted a picture for the blog!" Alya cried out in frustration as they left, and Chat had to smile himself. 

At least it was good that some things never changed.


	2. Ice cream

The instant she landed on her balcony, Ladybug sank down onto her lawn chair with a sigh and started rubbing at her shoulder. Though the miraculous cure took care of the damage they sustained in any akuma battles, sometimes the _memory_ of pain was even worse. It was like her body couldn’t process that it had been healed. Phantom aches were a bitch.

“Well, that sucked,” Chat announced to no one in particular as he landed. “Plagg, claws in.”

“I’m starving! I need food!” Plagg whined as he appeared.

“Tikki and Pollen will need food too,” Ladybug said with a sigh. Before she detransformed, she’d have to go back down to the road and enter the bakery normally. Her parents had probably heard about the akuma attacking the school and they’d want to know that she was okay.

Queen Bee was the last to land, stumbling slightly as she did. Adrien automatically reached out to steady her. 

“You okay?” he asked her.

“I’m fine,” Queen Bee said, gently pulling away. “Pollen, buzz off.”

A yellow flash of light up the balcony.

“Hey, Pollen!” Plagg said.

“Hi Plagg,” Pollen said, buzzing as she landed on Chloé’s palm. “You did excellently, My Queen!”

Ladybug raised an eyebrow. ‘So I guess I wasn’t wrong about Pollen wanting a queen bee, huh?’

‘Nope,’ Adrien thought, shooting her a small smile. He was deeply amused by the whole situation.

“Pollen, what do you eat?” Ladybug asked out loud.

“Much like Tikki, I enjoy sweets,” said Pollen. “I favor ice cream, if you have any.” She looked up with an adorably hopeful expression that melted Ladybug’s heart.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said, getting up and hopping over the railing of the balcony. As soon as she hit the ground, she ducked into the alley, detransformed, and waved Tikki into her purse. Then she causally walked into the bakery – and was promptly jerked into a hug by her panicked papa.

‘Something’s wrong with Chloé,’ Adrien thought.

‘What do you mean?’ Marinette thought, trying to remember how to breathe. At least with a hug this tight, she didn’t have to focus on trying to speak telepathically to Adrien and out loud to her parents.

‘She’s just acting a bit weird, that’s all,’ he thought back. 

‘She did just go through her first miraculous fight, and against a tough akuma,’ Marinette thought, before letting out a relieved squeak as her papa let go.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Tom exclaimed, looking her over. “I was ready to go over to the school to find you.”

“I’m sorry, Papa. Madame Bustier didn’t think it was safe for us to go, so she made us hide until it was over,” Marinette lied. “I wanted to send you and Maman a text, but we weren’t supposed to take our phones out just in case they made sounds and attracted the akuma.” She crossed her fingers behind her back as she spoke, hoping her parents never got the opportunity to ask Madame Bustier about this.

Truth be told, Marinette had no idea what happened with her classmates when an akuma showed up. Zombizou had been a special case since it was Madame Bustier herself who’d been akumatized. For the most part, by the time the teachers put any plans into place, Ladybug and Chat Noir were already out there saving the day.

“Of course,” Tom said, sighing but smiling. “Your maman is upstairs laying down. She had a headache.”

“Do you need me to help down here?” Marinette asked, hoping the answer was no.

Luckily, Tom shook his head. “We have it covered. Pop upstairs and let your maman know you’re okay.”

“Will do.” Marinette headed upstairs, though she detoured into the kitchen to grab cookies, swiss cheese, and a small dish of vanilla ice cream out of the freezer. Just as she tucked the cheese under her arm, a wave of potent concern came through the bond.

‘Uh oh,’ Adrien thought.

‘What? What’s wrong?’ Marinette thought. He’d been quiet while she was talking to Tom, mostly idly scrolling through his phone. She peeked through his eyes, half-expecting to see a message from his father or Nathalie, and realized that he was looking at his schedule for the week.

Specifically, a photography shoot for _Style Queen_ magazine.

And then it clicked.

‘Yeah, this is why Chloé is out of sorts. Her mother must be coming home,’ Adrien thought. It was a thought accompanied by a whirl of emotions and memories that Marinette tried to sort through as she made her way back upstairs. Her chest tightened as a few scenes of Audrey dismissing her daughter out of hand, or worse intentionally insulting Chloé, flashed through her head.

‘I don’t really know much about Audrey Bourgeois,’ she thought. She certainly hadn’t known that Chloé and her mother had such a contemptuous relationship, though in retrospect it explained _a lot_ of things about Chloé. Marinette paused, looking at the door to her parent’s bedroom. Her maman and papa were so great. It wasn’t fair that Adrien and Chloé had gotten stuck with such assholes.

‘Asshole is putting it mildly when it comes to Madame Bourgeois,’ Adrien thought tiredly, leaning forward and putting his head in his hands. ‘Chloé tries super hard to impress her mom and always ends up feeling terrible, so she lashes out at everyone.’

‘Yay,’ Marinette thought wryly, nudging the bedroom door open. A quick peek inside told her that Sabine was sleeping. Not wanting to wake her, she shut the door and just headed up to her room.

Adrien and Chloé were still out on the balcony. Marinette handed the food up to Adrien and then clambered through the window, watching as Plagg pounced on the cheese and started scarfing it down. Tikki and Pollen were considerably more polite, at least.

“So am I going to get to do this again?” Chloé asked, and Marinette glanced over at her.

“I don’t know. Maybe. Chat and I can handle most akumas ourselves,” Marinette said. 

Chloé’s mouth turned down, though her expression smoothed out quickly.

‘Mari…’ Adrien thought.

Marinette sighed. Gosh, life had been a lot easier when Chloé was just an annoying brat that Marinette didn’t really care about.

“But Hawkmoth is really stepping up his game. Zombizou and Antielle were pretty bad. So yeah, we might need to call upon you in the future if you’d be willing to help,” she said.

“I guess,” Chloé said, trying hard to sound cool, but even to Marinette’s inexperienced eye it was obvious that Chloé was totally psyched by the offer.

Adrien shot her that warm smile that never failed to make Marinette’s stomach flutter. She made a face at him, knowing that he could feel how he was making her feel, and his smile widened.

“Eww. If you two are gonna make faces at each other, then someone take me home,” Chloé said.

“I will as soon as Plagg has recharged,” Adrien said, turning to look at her and then at Plagg. The cheese was mostly gone and Plagg showed zero sign of slowing down, so it wouldn’t take long.

“I could just take Pollen and save you the trip,” Chloé said slyly.

Marinette snorted. “Nice try, but no. I’m taking this back to where it belongs,” she said, palming the Bee miraculous. Now that they knew there were other miraculous, she intended to have a nice chat with Master Fu. She and Adrien needed to know what those miraculous did just in case they needed other help in the future.

“Oh fine,” Chloé said. “But if you mess up my hair by doing tricks, I’ll stab _you_ next, Adrikins.”

Adrien just snickered. “I make zero promises.”


	3. Athanase

Chat landed on Chloé’s railing, steadied their combined weight, then hopped down to the floor and gently set her down. Chloé stepped away from him, shooting him a dirty look as she reached up to smooth her hair down. He pasted on his most innocent expression in response, which only served to make Chloé’s glower deepen. She wasn’t fooled for a second and they both knew it.

“So,” Chat said, figuring that he might as well just go for it. “Your mom’s coming to town, huh?”

‘Smooth,’ Marinette thought, rolling her eyes. Chat poked at her mentally as Chloé stiffened.

“Yeah, she is. How did you figure that out?” Chloé said warily, and Chat realized in a flash that she didn’t know about the photoshoot. 

He didn’t want to be the one to tell her. It always upset Chloé when she found out that her mother’s schedule was crammed full on the rare occasions Audrey came to Paris, and he wasn’t sure how Chloé would feel when she realized that Adrien might actually be spending more time around Audrey than Audrey’s own daughter would.

‘You didn’t think this through, did you?’ Marinette thought. 

‘Not even a little bit,’ Chat thought, biting his lip.

‘She’s staring at you. Say something!’ Marinette urged.

“Just a lucky guess. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said brightly out loud, spinning on his heel.

‘Chat!’ Marinette thought, exasperated. ‘That’s not really what I meant.’

At the same time, Chloé snapped, “Adrien Athanase Agreste, if you jump off that balcony, I’m going to tell everyone in class about the time you accidentally dyed your hair purple.”

Marinette’s laughter filled his head in the next moment as she caught a glimpse of Chat’s memories. Chat sighed, shoulders slumping, and reluctantly took his foot off the railing. He did not need Nino or Alya knowing that story. Knowing his luck, Alya would put her journalistic skills to work and dig up some pictures that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

“Fine,” he grumbled, turning to face Chloé. “I realized that Nathalie’s booked me in for a photoshoot with them, okay?”

He was then treated to the sight of Chloé trying and failing to hide her hurt, and it weighed heavily on his heart. In the back of his mind, Marinette was silent.

“Oh,” Chloé said after a moment. “I guess I should’ve expected that.” She half-turned away, folding her arms over her chest. “You know, she didn’t even tell me that she was coming. Daddy mentioned it last night while he was on the way out the door for some function. _He_ didn’t even bother to tell me that she was coming. So I don’t know if I’m going to see her at all.”

The bitterness in her voice hurt to hear. After all, Chat was intimately familiar with what it was like to have a parent that didn’t want to spend time with you. But at least his father tried – they occasionally had meals together. Audrey wanted nothing to do with Chloé no matter what Chloé did to impress her.

‘Kind of makes you wonder why she had a child if she didn’t want one,’ Marinette thought.

‘Maybe she thought it would look good for her image. Pretty sure that’s why my dad had me,’ Chat thought back. He knew his mother had wanted him, but his father? There was no denying that a family image looked really good in the eyes of the press.

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” Chloé said then, and Chat looked up at her. “I don’t really care her if I see her.”

It was such a blatant lie that Chat spoke before he could stop himself. “Why don’t you come to my photoshoot?”

“What?” Chloé said, surprised.

“Yeah! You and Marinette can both come,” Chat said.

‘What?’ Marinette thought, equally surprised.

“It’ll be a good cover,” Chat said to both of them, pleased with himself. “You can pretend that you didn’t know your mom would be there if you want to, Chlo. You can say that you’re there to support me.” It had been a long time since Chloé came to one of his shoots just for fun, but Marinette being there too would help sell the story.

“I don’t know…” Chloé said reluctantly.

“It’s up to you. If you don’t want to, I understand,” Chat said gently. 

“I’ll think about it,” Chloé said. “Now get lost. I don’t need anyone seeing a superhero on my balcony and asking questions.” She made shoo-ing motions with her hands.

“I don’t have to go home right away,” Chat said. “We could hang out if you want?”

Chloé seemed surprised by the offer but nodded. “Okay. I guess. If you want to.”

He ducked around her, into the privacy of her room, and said, “Plagg, claws in.”

She followed him inside, pulling her balcony doors mostly shut behind her. Adrien sat down on her bed with a sigh, kicking his shoes off. After the emotional intensity of the last few days, he was exhausted. First they’d lost their miraculous, then they’d had to deal with Zombizou and Coccinelle and Lynx, then they’d got new miraculous to help, and now there was Antielle. 

‘What do you think Lila will do tomorrow?’ he thought to Marinette, stretching out on Chloé’s bed as Chloé left the room – probably to get them some snacks from the kitchen, which meant she’d be gone for a little while depending on how busy the kitchen was and how bad Chloé’s temper got.

He found himself staring up at Chloé’s canopy, the fabric of which had been painted to look like a garden. The sight was unexpectedly soothing, with a myriad of colorful flowers and – he had to smile – tiny bees.

‘I don’t know. Is it too much to hope that this will have burst her bubble and she’ll magically become a nice person?’ Marinette thought back.

Adrien huffed a laugh. ‘Yeah, right. We have a better reason of figuring out who Hawkmoth is tomorrow morning than we do of that happening.’ He was pretty sure it was going to be the opposite. Lila had been angry enough about the miraculous being taken away to get akumatized over it. Having her nose rubbed in that picture of Adrien and Marinette had only made matters worse.

‘I know. I just wish she would stop,’ Marinette thought, sighing. ‘I don’t get what her plan was. Did she think she could convince you that you two were soulmates? Your words don’t even match!’

He put a hand on his chest. He was pretty sure that Lila had never even uttered the word “tie” in his hearing, much less an apology. But that hadn’t seemed to matter to Lila. Adrien had to give her credit for that: she went after what she wanted and didn’t let small inconveniences like reality get in her way.

‘That’s hardly something to be admired,’ Marinette thought. She felt sleepy now, her emotions and thoughts laced with a deepening fatigue. Adrien could tell without even trying that she had laid down in her bed. A quick peek through her eyes told him that Tikki had curled up beside her head and was already fast asleep.

‘As long as she doesn’t get akumatized again, we should be okay,’ Adrien thought. They’d thought Zombizou had been hard; Antielle had been _way_ worse. At least Zombizou had just been interested in general mayhem and destruction rather than a personal vendetta.

Marinette just groaned. ‘Oh kitty, don’t curse us.’


	4. Chocolate chip cookie

The next morning, Marinette actually climbed out of bed a whole hour before her alarm went off - in other words, a whole two hours before she usually scrambled out of bed. Adrien was a quiet, slumbering presence in the back of her mind as she got dressed and packed up her school bag. She scooped a sleepy Tikki into her purse and made her way downstairs, where she found her maman in the kitchen.

"Hi Maman. Are you feeling better?" Marinette asked.

Sabine smiled at her. "Much better, but where do you think you're going this early?"

"Um... to school? To finish my project with Chloé?" Marinette lied, holding her bag up as proof and hoping that her maman wouldn't ask too many questions. Technically she was still supposed to be grounded for having gone out while Zombizou was attacking the city, but sometimes, if she was very lucky, her parents would forget about her punishments if they got too wrapped up in the bakery. 

"What kind of project is this?" Sabine asked suspiciously.

"It's a presentation," Marinette said, edging towards the door. "I'm going to be late, Maman. You know what Chloé is like. I really don't want to make her mad this early."

Sabine didn't look convinced, but she nodded. "Alright. Take some pastries with you for breakfast. Maybe they'll help you butter Chloé up."

"Not likely," Marinette said wryly, slipping some shoes on. The only thing that seemed to have warmed Chloé up was the fact that Marinette was Adrien's soulmate, and that Adrien was fiercely protective of his lady. Chloé was too scared of losing Adrien to keep up her vendetta against Marinette. It would've been easy to be spiteful or petty and put some cracks in Chloé's and Adrien's relationship, but Marinette didn't want to do that. Adrien had too few friends as it was, and Chloé was - sort of - not too bad of a person once you got to know her better.

She headed downstairs to the bakery kitchen and received a box of half a dozen croissants from her papa. Marinette tucked the box under her arm as she made her way outside and ducked into an alley. Tikki emerged from her purse as Marinette set down her bag and started reorganizing her things to make the box fit inside.

"Are you taking those to Master Fu?" Tikki asked.

"God no," Marinette said, shaking her head. "He doesn't deserve them."

Tikki sighed. "I don't disagree, but..."

"But?" Marinette looked up at her kwami. It warmed her heart to see Tikki floating there.

"The guardian of the miraculous is an important figure," Tikki said slowly, as though searching for the right words. "He could make life very difficult for you and Adrien."

"He can't take our miraculous away again," Marinette said sharply.

"No, I don't think he would. He's learned his lesson in that respect," Tikki said, and she sounded a bit smug. 

"I get where you're coming from, Tikki. But I'm not going to bow down to someone who doesn't deserve my respect. And so far, Master Fu has just made bad decisions. First he took our miraculous away and then he gave _my_ miraculous to Lila. _Lila_! Of all people!" Marinette huffed, snapping her bag shut. "I'll be polite, but that's about all he's earned."

Her ire was enough to wake Adrien, who startled awake and thought, 'What? What's wrong? Akuma?' in a half-asleep daze.

'No akuma. Just having a chat with Tikki,' Marinette thought, pushing aside her frustration. She felt guilty for waking him up, which of course Adrien picked up on.

'It's fine, My Lady,' he thought, muffling a yawn. 'Though I do have to wonder what you're doing awake so - ah, you weren't kidding about interrogating Master Fu.'

'Damn straight I'm not,' Marinette thought back.

"You're right," Tikki said, drawing Marinette's attention back to her. She was smiling. "I'm proud of you, Marinette. You've grown up a lot."

"Thanks Tikki," Marinette said, touched. "Does that mean you'll let me transform and take the quick way to Master Fu's?"

Tikki pretended to think about it. "Well..."

"Come on. There's four chocolate chip cookies up for grabs," Marinette coaxed.

"Deal," Tikki said instantly.

"Great! Tikki, spots on!"

Ladybug took her yoyo from her hip and threw it up at the top of the nearest building; it snagged and jerked her off her feet, hauling her up onto the roof. She headed for Master Fu's house as Adrien, yawning, crawled out of bed and into his computer chair. They both had homework they hadn't finished, so Adrien started working away at it. Though his attention definitely started to wander when Ladybug landed outside Master Fu's shop and slipped through the - surprisingly unlocked, given the early hour - front door.

"Master Fu?" she called out, and a small, familiar form emerged from the hallway.

"Good morning, Ladybug. It's nice to see you again," Wayzz said politely.

"Hello Wayzz," Ladybug said with a smile. She looked at the kwami for a moment, then added, "Say, Wayzz, when you transform with someone, what kind of power do they get?"

Wayzz didn't seem surprised by the question but answered readily. "As the kwami of protection, I offer my holder the power of protection. Typically, their weapon is a shield. When they use their power, it generates a spherical green force field that is almost impenetrable. It can be expanded to cover a large distance, or contracted to -"

"Wayzz!" Master Fu said sharply as he entered the room.

"Hello, Master," Ladybug said coolly as Wayzz went quiet. "I asked him."

Master Fu frowned at her. "That information is private, Ladybug."

"But you said you wanted me to become the guardian someday, so I need to know," she countered, crossing her arms.

"I said that you were a potential candidate," Master Fu replied. "Not that I had completely made up my mind. Certain factors have recently made me reassess your suitability."

'Ouch,' Adrien thought.

Ladybug clenched her fists. "That's ridiculous,” she said, feeling a bit like Chloé. “Just because Chat can hear what I’m thinking doesn’t change anything! I’m still just as capable as I was before!” She didn’t understand why he didn’t want Chat knowing these things, but it was really pissing her off.

“It’s more complicated than you realize,” said Master Fu, which she didn’t think was true at all.

‘Tell him you need to know because of battles,’ Adrien thought. 

“ _We_ need to know about the different miraculous because of battles,” Ladybug said. “We got lucky this time. The Bee was exactly what we needed. But it might not have been, and we can’t waste precious time during a fight explaining the situation to you and letting you pick out the miraculous that works best. It would be much more efficient if you’d explain it now.” She stared him down, _daring_ him to argue.

“She has a point, Master,” Wayzz ventured. “During akuma attacks, time is of the essence.”

Master Fu sighed. “I suppose you’re right,” he said. “Will Chat Noir be joining us?”

“Yeah, he will,” Ladybug said firmly.

‘I will?’ Adrien thought.

‘I want him to _know_ he’s telling the both of us,’ Ladybug thought.

‘… I can be there in five minutes,’ Adrien thought.

“He’ll be here shortly,” Ladybug added.

“Very well. This way.” Master Fu stepped aside to allow her entrance to the back part of the shop. Feeling like she’d earned them a victory, however small, Ladybug walked back as Chat jumped out the window of the mansion and started heading their way.


	5. Underwear

Chat’s head was spinning as he returned home. He never could have imagined that the powers of the miraculous could be so varied – and there was still more for them to learn, as their time had been short. With only an hour or so to work with, Master Fu had been very brief as he touched upon each miraculous. 

‘I can definitely see how some of them will be helpful in a fight,’ Marinette thought. Since she wasn’t heading back home, she had already detransformed and was taking a slow, leisurely walk to school.

‘Me too,’ Chat thought. ‘I think the hardest part will be figuring out _which_ miraculous would be the most useful.’ He stepped down off his windowsill.

Marinette hummed. ‘It won’t be that bad. I personally think the hardest part will be prying the miraculous we need out of Master Fu’s hands.’

Chat snorted, knowing she was right, and said, “Plagg, claws in.”

“Finally! I thought you said that was gonna be a short trip,” Plagg whined as he materialized.

“I was only gone for like an hour,” Adrien pointed out, walking over to the fridge. As promised, he took out a quarter wheel of Camembert and offered it up. Plagg pounced on the cheese, chowing down like he hadn’t been fed in weeks.

Adrien left him to it, shedding pajamas and underwear as he walked into the bathroom. He took a very quick shower and then got dressed and did his hair. Plagg had passed out in a cheese coma by the time he was done, and Marinette had stopped at a small café near their school to pick up some drinks to go with the promised croissants. Adrien quickly grabbed his backpack and headed out the door.

His thoughts quickly returned to their session with Master Fu. Frankly, the most troubling part of it all was finding out that the Butterfly miraculous wasn’t the only one missing.

‘Yeah, I find it interesting how Master Fu neglected to mention that before,’ Marinette thought. ‘It would’ve been really nice to know that we could’ve run into another rogue miraculous at any point.’ She wasn’t very impressed, and Adrien could understand why. Hawkmoth’s akumas were enough to deal with, without having to worry about the Peacock miraculous causing trouble too.

‘He doesn’t even know if the Butterfly and Peacock are together, or if they were lost separately,’ Adrien thought unhappily. ‘And he said something about the Peacock not working properly… what does that even mean?’

‘I don’t know. I asked Tikki, but she just said that the kwami of the Peacock miraculous hasn’t been seen in decades. But that doesn’t mean much,’ Marinette thought, which of course Adrien had already known – he’d been listening when Tikki explained that. Tikki had also said that while she knew the Peacock miraculous was damaged, none of them knew what that meant.

‘No, it doesn’t.’ Adrien sighed as he walked into the dining room… where he promptly froze.

Gabriel and Nathalie were both sitting at the table.

‘What… the hell?’ he thought, baffled by the sight of them. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time his father had sat down to eat with him. In fact, the last time he’d seen Gabriel was when his father was interrogating him over whether Marinette was just a friend.

‘This can’t be good,’ Marinette thought, peering through his eyes.

“Adrien, don’t linger in the doorway. That’s rude,” Gabriel said crisply. “Sit down.”

“I actually don’t have time,” Adrien said. “I have to meet a classmate before school so we can go over a project.” Which wasn’t technically a lie. They didn’t need to know that that classmate was Marinette, and the project was their superhero duties.

He took a certain amount of satisfaction in their surprised looks.

Normally he was the one begging for scraps of their attention.

But right now, he had something more important to do.

It was a good feeling, even if Gabriel’s surprised look quickly morphed into a frown that meant trouble.

“I need to ask you something,” Gabriel said, eyes narrowing.

Of course. Any lingering guilt Adrien might have felt over not joining them for breakfast instantly vanished. 

‘He’s such a dick,’ Marinette thought, and Adrien had to bite down on a smile.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Have you been into my study lately?” Gabriel asked.

Adrien blinked.

 _That_ was the reason for an early breakfast? 

“Uh… no?” he said, before remembering how much Gabriel hated it when he answered a question with a question. He quickly amended that to, “No, I haven’t. I think the last time I was in your study was when we were talking about the new spring line. Why?”

“Something has gone missing from my safe,” said Gabriel.

“We have a safe?” Adrien said. That was news to him.

Gabriel stood up, folding his napkin and setting it on top of his untouched food. “Yes. It’s where I keep a few things of your mother’s.”

Adrien stilled. “Wait, someone stole something that belonged to Mère?” he said, his pulse quickening. He hadn’t even known – after Émilie’s death, Gabriel had gone through the mansion on a whirlwind. Pretty much everything that Émilie had ever owned or even touched, save for a few things that Adrien had squirreled away, had disappeared. It was unlikely that Gabriel had thrown anything out, so Adrien had always assumed that everything had been safely stored away.

‘Seriously. He’s a dick,’ Marinette thought. ‘What kind of parent does that? You deserve to have things from your mom.’

‘I do have a few things,’ Adrien thought back, mentally showing her an image of a sweater, a blanket, a ring, and a bottle of perfume. 

“It’s possible,” Gabriel said, drawing Adrien’s attention back to him. “You, Nathalie and I are the only ones who ever go into that room. Even the servants don’t enter. So are you absolutely sure about your answer, Adrien?” His eyes bored into Adrien.

Nathalie cleared her throat as she stood too. “If you did take it, Adrien, no one would be angry,” she said with a pointed look in Gabriel’s direction. “Your father just wants it back.”

“What is ‘it’, exactly?” Adrien said, totally lost by now.

“A broach,” Nathalie said when Gabriel remained silent.

A broach? Adrien tried to remember Émilie wearing a broach but couldn’t. She had always favored necklaces over broaches, saying that she didn’t like the way that broaches left holes in her clothing. Then again, Émilie had had an enormous collection of jewelry – enough to wear a different piece for every day of the year and then some. 

He shook his head. “It wasn’t me. Maybe we should call the police. I could text my classmate Sabrina. Her father is –”

“That won’t be necessary,” Gabriel said. 

“But if it was stolen…” Adrien said.

Gabriel shook his head. “Perhaps it was her,” he said, more to himself than to Nathalie or Adrien.

“Her?” Adrien repeated.

“Never mind. Please remember that you have your lessons after school today. You have a double piano lesson to make up for missing your Thursday lesson for a photoshoot,” Nathalie said. 

“Right. I’ll remember,” Adrien said, shooting his father a curious look. He would have liked to have asked more questions, but Gabriel was already walking out of the room without even saying good-bye. It was like Adrien had ceased to matter the moment he said he had nothing to do with the broach.

Typical.


	6. Unify

When Marinette got to school that morning, she was in for another surprise. She was so involved in mentally talking to Adrien about the weird conversation with his father that at first, she almost missed the fact that most of their classmates were standing around in a group. In fact, she would have walked past them entirely had Alya not called out to her.

“Hey, Mari! Over here!”

Marinette turned, startled. “Alya? Nino? What are you guys doing here so early? There’s still like twenty minutes before school starts,” she said, walking over.

“Maybe this is the time we always get here, and you just never realized that because you’re always late,” Alya said, a twinkle in her eyes.

Marinette reddened as the sounds of Adrien’s laughter filled her head.

“Aw, come on. Don’t be mean,” Alix said, gently nudging Alya in the ribs. “We’re here talking about Lila.”

“About…?” Marinette glanced around quickly, realizing that the girl in question was no where to be seen. For that matter, neither were Sabrina, Mylène, Ivan, or Max.

“Max is out sick,” Alya said, obviously see Marinette’s look. “But Sabrina and Mylène didn’t really want to be here, and Ivan will pretty much do whatever Mylène is doing.”

“Okay…” Marinette said slowly, still baffled. She adjusted her grip on her coffee and took a sip, hoping that the caffeine boost might provide some clarity. 

It was Nino who took pity on her, saying, “We were all thinking about this last night and realizing that some of the other stuff that Lila told us might not be true.”

Marinette blinked in shock. “What – really?”

‘Really?’ Adrien thought at the same time.

“Yeah, really. It seems pretty unlikely that Lila knows a bunch of famous musicians,” Juleka said. “She said she could introduce my brother to some producers who work with people like Jagged Stone and XY, but every time I ask her about it she changes the subject.” She looked upset, and Rose put a comforting hand on her arm.

“Same thing for when I ask her about an introduction to Steven Basielberg, she pretends like she can’t hear me.” Nino scowled and tugged at the rim of his baseball cap. “I know that supposedly she has a hearing problem but come on!”

“Wait, supposedly?” Marinette said, unable to believe her ears.

“First it was her eyes, then it was her hearing. The day before yesterday she told Madame Bustier that her wrists were hurting her all the time, so she needed someone to carry her books,” Kim interjected, rolling his eyes. “I mean… if she really needed the help, I wouldn’t mind. But…”

“I don’t believe that’s the case,” Alix said, planting her hands on her hips. “I think she’s lying.”

The word sent a chill down Marinette’s spine.

‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ she thought, her eyes darting from one classmate to another.

‘It’s like Chloé proving that Lila was lying about being my soulmate pulled their blindfolds off,’ Adrien thought, shocked.

“I think she was lying about being able to introduce me to famous artists,” Nathaniel said quietly, clutching his sketchpad to his chest. “Marc is really disappointed.”

“Basically, she was lying about everything,” Nino said angrily. “And has been from day one. Right, Alya?”

“Well…” Alya looked a little reluctant. “You guys, we don’t know if she was lying about _everything_.”

“Come on, Alya. Has anyone here been able to verify a single thing that Lila has said so far?” Alix asked.

No one said anything, not even Alya.

“I thought you’d be upset,” Rose said to Alya. “You put her interview on your blog and everything…”

Alya flushed. “Maybe what she said was true,” she said defensively, and suddenly Marinette understood. Alya didn’t want to think about the fact that Lila might have been lying, because if that was the case then that meant Alya had posted a fake interview to the Ladyblog. 

“Why don’t you ask Ladybug?”

Everyone except for Marinette jumped as Adrien strolled up and took the spare coffee from Marinette’s hand. He dropped a kiss on her cheek and gave Nino a fist bump in welcome.

“Ask Ladybug?” Alya repeated. “You mean… about Lila?”

“Yeah. Ladybug could surely tell you if she and Lila are friends. For that matter, Chat Noir could probably tell you too,” Adrien said, wrapping an arm around Marinette’s shoulders.

‘What are you doing?’ she thought. ‘I don’t really want Alya interrogating me. What if she notices something?’

‘Relax. Alya will be too busy doing damage control to notice anything,’ Adrien thought back, giving her a comforting squeeze.

“Hmm,” Alya said thoughtfully. “That’s a good idea. I wonder if I could catch them after the next akuma battle.”

“I’m sure you can,” Adrien said serenely, smiling, and Marinette knew he would turn himself inside out to make _sure_ that Chat, if not Ladybug herself, was there for Alya to question.

“Whatever. I’m done with Lila,” Alix said, and Nathaniel, Kim, and everyone else all nodded in agreement. Marinette looked around at them thoughtfully. It was really nice to see them all sharing the same opinion of Lila finally. Whether she knew it or not, Lila had helped to unify a good portion of the class.

“Me too. I won’t believe anything she says from now on. And I really am sorry for doubting you,” Nino said to Adrien.

“Marinette, can I talk to you for a minute?” Alya asked.

“Sure,” Marinette said.

‘Don’t be too long. My stomach is growling just thinking about those croissants,’ Adrien thought.

Marinette shot him a smirk and walked a little ways away with Alya. Much to her surprise, Alya wouldn’t meet her eyes. She was staring at the ground and fidgeting with her cell phone.

“Alya?” Marinette prompted finally.

“I just – I, um – I wanted – I wanted to say I’m sorry too,” Alya blurted out.

“You’re sorry?” Marinette echoed, startled.

‘Did Alya just apologize to you?’ Adrien thought, his head turning towards them before he remembered himself and stopped.

“Yeah. I kind of… well, I wasn’t very supportive of you and Adrien. I know I implied that maybe you and Adrien should break up so that Adrien could be with Lila,” Alya went on, still watching the ground like it was fascinating. “You told me that Adrien and Lila weren’t soulmates, but I didn’t believe you. I was so caught up in the idea of them being soulmates that I didn’t want to hear it.”

“Why?” Marinette asked, curious, and Alya finally looked up at her. 

“Why what?”

“Why were you interested in the idea of Adrien and Lila being soulmates?”

Alya sighed. “Oh. Well, it just seemed kind of cool that I could talk to someone about having a soulmate. Someone who was starting out just like me, you know? Rose and Juleka have known forever. With Nino, it’s still so awkward sometimes. I was just excited… and I guess I got caught up in it… and I forgot to think about your feelings. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” Marinette said cautiously. “But Alya… you know that wasn’t cool, right? Not just because of my relationship with Adrien, but because you totally ignored what Adrien was telling you just because it didn’t match up with what you wanted. If you want to be a journalist, you’re going to have to learn to listen to _everyone_ to get the facts. Not just what you want to hear.”

‘Good point,’ Adrien thought.

“I know. You’re right.” Alya’s shoulders slumped. “I really should talk to Ladybug and Chat Noir, shouldn’t I?”

“Yeah,” Marinette said, as gently as she could when she knew what the outcome of _that_ conversation would be. “You really should.”


	7. Oblivious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to turn off anon commenting for a little while because of the Lila anon harassing me, sorry!

No one was rude to Lila over the next couple of days, but both Adrien and Marinette definitely noticed a general change in the attitude towards her. The only people who would really speak to her were Sabrina and Mylène, and Adrien couldn’t help noticing that both of them seemed less inclined to take Lila at her word. There was a lot less ‘ooh’-ing and ‘aww’-ing whenever Lila came up with one of her ostentatious tales.

It was hard not to take satisfaction in Lila’s obvious frustration, especially since there was nothing she could really _do_ about it. Anything she said was regarded with some suspicion by her classmates, and Lila wasn't helping her situation by continuing to make up what Adrien was positive were stories in a bid to get more attention.

'Do you think she'll get akumatized again?' he thought, watching as Lila tried to tell Nathaniel about a famous publishing company she apparently had ties with. Nathaniel listened with a politely disinterested expression.

'Maybe. I hope not,' Marinette thought, glancing over. 'If she does, we'll just have to deal with it. Normally I'll give anyone a second chance, but Lila has shown no sign of wanting to change. She hasn't even acknowledged that she's not your soulmate and that she made the whole thing up.'

'I know,' Adrien thought. Word of the truth had spread through the school, which was a good thing. But some people didn't seem to believe it and were still giving Marinette the cold shoulder because of Lila’s lies. Sometimes Adrien wished his father weren't such an obstacle. If Gabriel were out of the way, and he didn't have to worry about his fans, he would gladly tell everyone that he was soulmates with the most beautiful girl in the world...

'Oh, you flatterer,' Marinette thought. Her face turned pink, and pleasure shaded with embarrassment came through their bond. 'I'm not afraid of your fans, Adrien. I'm just worried about what your father would do if he found out. I'd like to tell everyone too, but...'

Adrien sighed, closing his mathematic book and sliding it into his bag. He really didn't want to wait until he was eighteen to tell everyone. Soulmates did have some rights under the law, but he was also still a minor. That meant he was under his father's control, unless he did something like file for emancipation. And he wasn't sure that was the way to go, considering that Gabriel had ample money to butter up any court or attorney Adrien tried to talk to. Besides that, he wasn't even sure that that the courts would give him emancipation over something like this.

"Are you leaving now?" Chloé whispered, pulling Adrien's attention to her.

"Yeah, I am. I wasn't even supposed to come today, but I told Nathalie I couldn't miss the test," he whispered back. He had a long afternoon ahead of him. Last he'd heard, there was at least a dozen outfits waiting to be modelled. Hopefully that didn't also mean a dozen separate visits to hair and make-up, or he'd be there all night.

"I assume Marinette is going over after school," Chloé said.

'Tell Chloé she's welcome to join me,' Marinette thought.

"Marinette says you can walk over together," Adrien told Chloé, simultaneously sending a wave of gratitude towards his lady.

"I'm still thinking about it," Chloé said quickly, but she wasn't saying no - which, for Chloé, was as good as a yes. He took a closer look at her.

"Have you seen your mom yet?" he asked.

Chloé looked away, her visible hand tightening into a fist. "I saw her briefly last night," she said, very quietly. "She and my father were heading out to some party and they stopped by the hotel so that Daddy could get changed into a more impressive suit."

"I see," Adrien said, still studying her expression. After so many years of friendship, he found Chloé easy to read even when she was trying to hide her feelings. Whatever had happened last night had upset Chloé a lot.

'Do you think her mom said something?' Marinette thought.

'Either that, or just ignored Chloé completely. Sometimes I'm not sure which is worse,' Adrien thought back. Unlike Chloé, who aimed to hurt when she was cruel, Audrey Bourgeois was just oblivious - and in a way, that was worse. Because most of the time, she didn't notice or care about the impact that she was having on the people around her. It was like she didn't even register those people as human beings worthy of her notice, much less her compassion or kindness. Hell, Adrien wasn't even sure if Audrey knew what those two words _meant_. 

'I'm suddenly starting to understand Chloé a lot better,' Marinette thought. 'And I hate to admit it, but I actually feel sorry for her. Her mom sounds like a horrible person.'

'She's like Chloé at her absolute worst, but turned up to a billion – and that’s when she’s not even _trying_ to be awful,' Adrien thought, his spirits lowering further as he further contemplated his afternoon. He'd only done one other photoshoot with Audrey Bourgeois, and it had been a nightmare. She was even pickier than Gabriel and that was saying something.

He sighed and patted Chloé’s hand, then stood up and made his excuses to their teacher. His bodyguard was waiting in the car out front when Adrien got out there; Adrien climbed into the back of the car and closed his eyes. Through Marinette, he was able to listen to the rest of their mathematics class and even managed to help her with a few equations before they got to where the photoshoot was being held.

Nathalie was waiting for him, looking harassed. “Your father is going to be late,” she said, hustling Adrien out of the car. “His meeting is running long.”

“He’s coming?” Adrien said, shocked. Normally Gabriel criticized everything from a distance by way of a tablet, which Nathalie always held. 

“Audrey Bourgeois has requested his presence _in person_ ,” Nathalie said, with a mocking lilt to her voice that made Adrien smirk. Last time, Audrey had referred to Nathalie as Gabriel’s lap dog. It had not gone over well.

“So I guess I get to look forward to the two of them arguing, then?” he asked, resigned. 

“I’m sure your father would call it a professional exchange of opinions,” Nathalie replied, which was her way of saying yes. 

“Great. Well, maybe I’ll be lucky and his meeting will run too long,” Adrien said.

Nathalie snorted. “Not likely. And I’m warning you now, he’s going to be in a bad mood after meeting with her.”

“Her? Her who?” Adrien asked, frowning.

But at that moment, Adrien’s make up artist caught sight of them and came running. She immediately ushered Adrien away from Nathalie and straight into the back room. Adrien was pushed into a chair and promptly subjected to a solid half hour of two women poking at and painting his face, while another woman worked on his hair.

“Okay, kiddo. You’re all done,” his hair stylist said finally.

Adrien opened his eyes and glanced in the mirror. His hair was a little messier today, though not quite to the level of Chat Noir. His make-up, at least, was the same as usual – subtle, but enough so that he wouldn’t look completely washed out under the lights.

“Thanks,” he said, getting up and heading for wardrobe. His stylist and both make-up artists immediately broke out into whispers behind him, gossiping about an intern who had been fired by Audrey just before Adrien arrived. His heart sank and he had to hold back a sigh. At this rate, they wouldn’t need to worry about Lila getting akumatized – it would be Audrey causing the next akuma.


	8. Little kitty on the roof

When the school bell finally rang, Marinette gathered up her things and packed her bag. She ignored Lila, who was dramatically telling anyone who would listen about how she’d hurt her ankle, and stood up, watching Chloé. When Chloé deliberately didn’t look back at her, Marinette stepped down and stopped beside where Adrien had been sitting for the past few weeks.

“Are you ready?” she asked quietly.

Chloé huffed. “I suppose.” She slung her bag over her shoulder. “We can take my car.”

The place where Adrien was having his photoshoot was close enough to walk, but Marinette decided against making waves. She smiled instead. “Sure, that would be great.”

“Marinette, wait! Where are you going?” Alya asked. Marinette glanced at her in surprise.

“Chloé and I are going to watch Adrien’s photoshoot,” Marinette replied.

Alya looked disappointed. “Oh, I was hoping we could get ice cream or something.”

“Maybe tomorrow. I’ll text you tonight. Bye!” Marinette waved as she followed Chloé out of the room. Alya still seemed disappointed, and at one time that would’ve made Marinette feel bad – but she refused to do so now. For days, Alya had ignored her in favor of sucking up to Lila in hopes of getting more interviews for the Ladyblog. It wasn’t fair for Alya to expect her to be free just because Alya now was.

‘Good for you,’ Adrien thought.

‘What are you doing?’ Marinette thought back, peeking through his eyes. She realized that he was sitting to the side of the photoshoot. Adrien’s photographer looked like he was having a furious conversation with some other photographers that Marinette didn’t recognize.

‘One of the models didn’t show up,’ Adrien thought. ‘And now they’re having a fight about what the theme of the shoot should be. Originally it was supposed to be ‘little kitty on the roof’ or something like that, but now Vincent is saying that doesn’t fit the clothing line and that my father won’t be happy… and the magazine people are saying that’s what Madame Bourgeois wanted so that’s what they have to do.’

‘Wow, sounds like a mess,’ Marinette thought, climbing into the car after Chloé. 

‘Yeah, it really is. I can kind of appreciate why the model didn’t show,’ he thought. ‘Apparently she’s worked with Audrey Bourgeois before.’

“How’s the shoot going?” Chloé asked Marinette.

“Um… not well,” Marinette said, keeping her voice quiet so that Chloé’s driver wouldn’t overhear. 

“Big surprise,” Chloé muttered. “What happened?”

“One of the models didn’t show up,” Marinette repeated. “I guess she was supposed to be the main model alongside Adrien.” She decided not to mention _why_ Adrien thought the model hadn’t shown up. Chloé was smart enough to figure it out on her own, but saying it would be rude.

“Hmm,” Chloé said, crossing her arms and looking out the window. Marinette took that as an indication that Chloé didn’t want to talk, and turned to look out her own window. She spent a little while looking through Adrien’s eyes until she got dizzy, but they were pulling up to the building by that point anyway.

Marinette opened her car door just as a quick flash of alarm came from Adrien, and then –

“This is _ridiculous_!”

“Ah, my mother’s here,” Chloé said wryly, pushing her own door open and climbing out.

‘Suddenly I feel like going straight home,’ Marinette thought. But it had taken her a lot of begging to get permission to come to Adrien’s shoot. She’d had to promise to do extra bakery shifts. As it was, Sabine had only given in because it was for Adrien.

‘Oh no you don’t. Don’t you dare leave a little kitty alone on the roof without his lady,’ Adrien thought.

‘Those aren’t even the right lyrics to the song!’ Marinette thought, but she followed Chloé around the corner of the building. 

“How dare you decide what is right at _my_ shoot!” Audrey was shouting, hands planted on her hips in a display eerily reminiscent of her daughter.

“I’m not deciding; I’m just telling you what’s happening,” Nathalie said with forced calm, looking like she was fighting hard not to yell. “We have someone working on getting another model here, but your request is very specific and it’s not easy to find someone on such short notice.”

“Ridiculous!” Audrey shrilled again. “You don’t understand my _vision_!” She stamped her foot. “You need opposition! Drama! The shot won’t be right otherwise!”

Marinette walked over to Adrien. Rather than kiss him on the cheek like she normally would, she settled for taking his hand and giving it a squeeze to avoid messing up his make-up. Adrien sighed and gave her a rueful smile. 

‘Maybe you shouldn’t have bothered to come. It doesn’t seem like many photos will be taken today,’ he thought.

‘That’s okay. Hey, maybe if you get done early, we can go get a snack,’ Marinette thought. ‘Chloé will probably need some cheering up, so she can come too.’ She turned to look for Chloé, as it seemed like Chloé hadn’t followed her over to Adrien, and instead end up squeaking in surprise when Vincent suddenly grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away from Adrien.

“Here!” he shouted. “She can substitute for the girl who didn’t show up!”

“What?!” Marinette blurted out.

“What?!” Chloé exclaimed from their right.

“Yes!” Adrien cried, clapping his hands together.

Audrey’s eyes narrowed as she stared hard at Marinette.

“She is a model too,” Vincent said, his hands still on Marinette’s shoulders. “She is roughly the same size and she will contrast Adrien nicely, yes?”

“… Fine,” Audrey said after a moment, and it was like everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“I’m not a model,” Marinette hissed as Audrey turned away. A man in a suit began speaking to her. Nathalie rubbed her temples like she had a headache.

Vincent let go of her, only to clasp his hands together. “I know you’re not. Forgive me, Mademoiselle. I’m begging for your help. Madame Bourgeois won’t let the shoot continue until she’s approved of the other model, and you’re the closest thing we’ve got.”

“Uh,” Marinette said, her eyes darting around. Her instinct was to say no, but – 

Vincent, and pretty much everyone around him, looked so hopeful.

And she could _feel_ how much Adrien wanted her to do it, though he was trying hard to reign it in and let her make the decision.

“Monsieur Agreste would be happy with the substitution. This may even raise his opinion of you,” Nathalie added, turning to Marinette and straightening her glasses.

For some reason, Marinette found herself looking at Chloé.

Chloé folded her arms across her chest and stared back with a stony expression.

She didn’t nod – but she didn’t shake her head or throw a fit either.

‘Mari?’ Adrien thought.

“Okay,” Marinette said, against her better judgment. If she could help, she wanted to. This photoshoot was enough of a disaster as it was.

“Yes!” Adrien cheered again. 

Vincent breathed something in Italian.

“Then let’s get you to hair and make-up. We’re already running two hours behind schedule,” Nathalie said, snapping her fingers at a girl in a suit. The girl leapt into action and quickly started to usher Marinette away.

‘I’m so excited,’ Adrien thought.

‘Well, that makes one of us,’ Marinette thought back as she was dragged into a room that was stuffed to the brim with every conceivable kind of make-up and hair product. A man started tugging at her pigtails, a woman started wiping Marinette’s face, and another man started humming and hawing over her fingernails. As uncomfortable as she was with the attention, Marinette tried to bear it all with as much grace as she could muster.

She had the feeling she was going to regret this.


	9. Emilie

Even the appearance of his father on set couldn't dampen Adrien's spirits as he waited for Marinette to return. He knew she wasn't thrilled at the thought of modelling, but she was willing to do it and he loved her for it. Sometimes it was hard to model with people he didn't know; some of the models could get very grabby or touchy in ways he wasn't comfortable with. Knowing that for once he wouldn't have to worry about that was really nice. In fact, he was almost grateful to that other model for not bothering to show up!

Or, well, he would have been if it hadn't been for the building tension on set. 

"How long do you think it'll be before they get into a fight?" Chloé said from right behind him, and Adrien jumped.

"Umm... I'm not taking a sucker's bet," he said, glancing over at Audrey and Gabriel. The two of them didn't get along very well, so a fight - or at least, some tense words - was probably inevitable. Neither one of them was used to dealing with people who didn't bow down to them. And in Gabriel's case, this was one of the rare times he actually bothered to show up somewhere in person since Émilie had passed. That in itself had probably put his father in a _terrible_ mood.

Chloé smiled humorlessly. "You're going to have a rough time with making them both happy, and now you have to deal with Marinette's incompetence."

"Chloé," Adrien chided. "Marinette isn't incompetent. She'll be new at this, that's all. At least I know that the two of us work well together." He looked at Chloé meaningfully, confident that both their teamwork as Ladybug and Chat Noir and their bond were going to give him and Marinette an edge.

"Right," Chloé said doubtfully, but she didn't say anything else, so Adrien decided to take it as a win. 

He stood up as Marinette appeared, looking composed but with her nerves high enough to make Adrien feel anxious too. Part of her hair had been pulled up into a ponytail, with the rest falling freely around her shoulders in loose curls. Like Adrien, she was wearing a lot more make-up than she usually did, as she would have looked pale and washed out under the harsh lighting otherwise. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress that perfectly matched her eyes; the dress had a modest neckline with an empire waist, fitting tightly beneath the bust before flowing out around Marinette's hips. 

'You look amazing,' Adrien thought.

Marinette flushed with pleasure. 'Thanks. I can't believe how pretty this dress is,' she thought happily, lightly brushing her fingers over the dress. As she got closer, Adrien realized that the dress had two layers. The bottom layer was dark blue, and the top was a paler blue, almost white. The interplay of the two colors as she moved was very interesting.

"Alright! Let's have our models on set!" Vincent shouted. "Everyone else, out!"

Adrien extended his arm to his soulmate and escorted Marinette onto the set, pushing waves of calming comfort in her direction. He thought, 'It'll be okay, Mari. Really. All you have to do is focus on me.'

'Easier said than done,' Marinette thought, swallowing. Beneath the make-up, her face was pale. He could feel her fingers trembling a bit where her hand rested on his arm.

"Let's start with the meeting," Vincent said.

"The meeting?" Marinette whispered.

"Pretend like we don't know each other," Adrien whispered back. He hated to leave her side when she was so apprehensive, but it had to be done. He moved a few feet away and angled his body partially to the side, facing the camera. 

"Adrien, lift your chin!" Vincent said. "You, girl -"

"Marinette," Adrien supplied.

"Marinette, I want _grace_. You are _effortless_. You have no cares in this world!"

'What does that even mean?! I have _all_ the cares!' Marinette thought indignantly, and Adrien choked on a laugh.

'Just pretend that you're Ladybug,' he thought back. 'Pretend that you're - that you're out for a fun night with me, and all we have to worry about is running around the rooftops. We've just beaten an akuma, and everything is good for just a couple of minutes.' He tried to remember what that felt like and projected it across their bond as best he could.

Slowly but surely, Marinette's nerves eased, and her confidence began to grow. By the time the two of them were actually able to interact, Adrien was pleased to see that she was actually smiling and meant it.

“No! No, no, no!” 

‘Shit,’ Marinette thought.

Audrey stalked out onto the set and pointed at them. “What is this?!”

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other blankly.

“Um, what?” Marinette said finally.

“The colors in this photoshoot are supposed to be blue and cream,” Audrey snapped. “ _What_ is _that_?!” She jabbed a finger at Marinette.

Specifically, at Marinette’s ears.

‘She means my earrings,’ Marinette thought, horrified.

Adrien opened his mouth and then closed it, speechless. 

Finally, Marinette squeaked out, “Um – they’re, um, they’re family heirlooms?” 

“Take them off!” Audrey commanded. “They’re ruining the shot!”

“They can’t be that bad,” Adrien said, turning to Vincent in hopes of support.

But Vincent was shaking his head. “The red stands out too much.” His expression was full of disapproval, and Adrien’s stomach twisted. He knew how hard it was when things had to be edited out afterwards. He was frankly shocked that the stylists had let Marinette out here with her earrings in the first place. Maybe they’d hoped no one would notice?

“And you!” Audrey said, turning next on Adrien. “I don’t remember there being a ring on your hand!”

Adrien tensed and looked at his hand. It was true that the silver of his ring stood out starkly against the soft cream of his jacket and pants, but –

“Pére, I always wear my ring,” he said, looking at his father.

Gabriel’s expression was like stone. “That’s not a _Gabriel_ original. It should not be in the photoshoot.”

“Take them off,” Audrey ordered.

‘Adrien, we can’t,’ Marinette thought, panicking.

Adrien didn’t know what to do. He’d get in trouble if he refused – and if Marinette stepped down, the whole photoshoot would fall apart –

“I’ll keep them.”

They both turned, shocked, to find Chloé standing right behind them. Her hands were outstretched.

“It’s okay,” she said, meeting first Adrien’s eyes and then Marinette’s.

Adrien swallowed, his heart thumping. ‘Mari?’

‘I – I don’t know,’ Marinette thought. 

‘It’s up to you,’ Adrien thought, but the only other alternative was Marinette deciding not to do it. Her outfit didn’t even have pockets, and neither did Adrien’s for that matter. Hiding their miraculous on them would ruin the fit of the clothes; Adrien knew from experience that even the slightest wrinkle would be cause for a temper tantrum. And it wasn’t like they could leave their miraculous in Marinette’s purse with no one to watch them.

Slowly, Marinette reached up and took off her earrings. She hesitated before putting them both in Chloé’s right hand. So Adrien slid his ring off his finger and put it in Chloé’s left hand; he couldn’t be sure, but he thought he _felt_ the moment when Plagg disappeared as a result.

Chloé closed her hands over both miraculous, and then brought her hands to her chest. Cupping the miraculous protectively.

“What are we waiting for? We’re losing time!” Vincent boomed.

“We’re behind schedule! This is ridiculous!” Audrey said, storming off set. Chloé followed, her hands still pressed to her chest, but stopped a short distance away from everyone else and within easy eyesight of Adrien and Marinette. Close enough so that, if something went wrong, she would be able to get to them easily.

Marinette still watched her anxiously as she thought, ‘This is such a bad idea.’

‘It’ll go fast,’ Adrien thought, grabbing her hand and pulling her close as Vincent shouted directions. He tried to ignore the unnatural nakedness of his finger and focused on smiling lovingly at his partner.


	10. Lazy day

At first, Chloé stuck close enough to the photography session that Adrien and Marinette could see her at all times. She didn’t know Marinette well, but she knew Adrien well enough to know that he was very apprehensive about taking off his miraculous. It stood to reason that Marinette would feel the same way. And, considering that both of them had only _just_ got their miraculous back, that made sense.

“Alright!” Vincent called out. “Adrien, Marinette, I need something more playful. You’re young, you’re in love – make the camera _ache_ for you!”

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other in that way that meant they were communicating telepathically. Chloé didn’t know if they were aware of just how often they did that, but they did it _a lot_. So much so that sometimes she was genuinely astonished that no one had caught on to them yet. 

It just proved how oblivious people could be if you asked Chloé.

Finally, the two of them seemed to come to a consensus. Adrien took Marinette’s right hand and then gently laid his free hand on her hip. He pulled her closer, and for a moment the two of them just stood there gazing into each other’s eyes.

Vincent practically rubbed his hands in glee and attacked his camera, clicking away.

Chloé swallowed the lump in her throat and tightened her grip on the miraculous until her fingers turned white.

She had always known that she and Adrien weren’t soulmates, of course. But a little part of her had hoped that maybe, in the end, that wouldn’t matter. There were plenty of couples out there who weren’t soulmated pairs. It wasn’t uncommon.

Adrien was sweet, and kind, and loyal. She might not really love him _that_ way, but he had never once turned away from Chloé, not really. Not like everyone else. So she’d hoped –

But now there was Marinette, and they were more than just soulmates. They were _partners_. Ladybug and Chat Noir. Nothing would ever come between those two.

The realization was a bitter one no matter how many times it crossed Chloé’s mind. Yet she knew she had to come to terms with it. There was no sense in being jealous over Marinette. All that would do was drive Adrien away, and even now that was the last thing that Chloé wanted to do. More than anything, she did not want to lose Adrien’s love and friendship.

That was why she’d been trying, sort of, to make friends with Marinette. It was hard. Chloé wasn’t very good at being nice, and she knew that Marinette didn’t really like her. But for some reason, Marinette seemed to be trying too. So that made it a little bit easier. 

But seeming them together, looking so cozy and happy…

It was a jab right to the part of Chloé’s heart that knew no one would ever look at her the way that Adrien was looking at Marinette.

No one wanted her like that. No one wanted her at all.

“Yes! Yes!” Vincent cried out enthusiastically. “Now… you’re having a lazy day. Just the two of you. No one is watching!”

Her stomach flipped as Marinette reached up and lightly ran her fingers down Adrien’s cheek. Her index finger lingered on the curve of his jaw, then she tapped him playfully on the nose.

Adrien laughed and, in retaliation, pulled her forward; he dipped her backwards over his arm, and it was Marinette’s turn to laugh.

Vincent was practically crying with joy.

Chloé couldn’t watch them anymore. Her chest was painfully tight as she looked away. For the first time, she realized that her mother was standing alone a short distance away. Audrey had one hand propped on her hip and was talking angrily into her cell phone in rapid-fire English. Judging by the wide birth that everyone was giving her, Audrey was probably in the middle of firing someone else.

She hesitated, glancing over at Adrien and Marinette. Vincent was calling for a wardrobe change now, and over-eager interns were swarming the two of them and ushering them into the backroom. From previous experience, Chloé knew that a wardrobe change usually involved a hairstyle change too. So it might be as much as fifteen minutes before they came out.

Rather than follow and hang around making a nuisance of herself in an already cramped space, she drifted closer to her mother. 

Audrey didn’t even notice.

“ – I’m telling you how I want it! You’re fired!” she spat into the phone in French before hanging up.

“Mom?” Chloé ventured cautiously.

Audrey ignored her, huffing under her breath and dialing another number. She barked, “You better figure out how to get me a new personal assistant within the hour!” into the phone before hanging up again.

“Mom,” Chloé said again, a little louder this time. Her heart was thudding against her ribs. Maybe this was a mistake.

No, no ‘maybe’ about it. This _was_ a mistake. Last night, Audrey had been in a ferociously bad mood. She’d been ranting about Gabriel Agreste – apparently he had slighted her in some way. It didn’t look like her mood had improved as she finally turned to look at Chloé, because it took a few seconds for her to even register that Chloé was standing there.

“What? Oh, Clara,” Audrey said, eyes skating dismissively over Chloé.

“It’s Chloé,” Chloé corrected automatically.

“Right, whatever,” Audrey muttered, attention already drifting back to her phone.

Chloé pointedly cleared her throat. “Mom, I have a gift for you,” she said. “Maybe after this is over, you could come back with me to the hotel and I could give it to you?” She had spent some time this morning debating on bringing the gift along, before finally deciding that giving it to Audrey in a public setting probably wasn’t the best idea. 

“A gift? What is it?” Audrey said sharply.

“Earrings,” Chloé said. There was no surprising Audrey Bourgeois. You had to tell her straight up what you were doing so she could decide if it was worth her time. Chloé’s chest tightened further as Audrey gave a derisive laugh.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Claire. Your fashion is terrible. What makes you think I would want anything you bought me?”

Chloé opened and closed her mouth, speechless.

“I mean – just look at how you’re dressed. Yellow, black, and white? Yellow is so _out_ this year.” Audrey exhaled noisily and shook her head. “Absolutely ridiculous.”

“I – I got them just for you,” Chloé said weakly. “They’re not – I –” They were delicate sapphires strung up in silver cords, soft and dainty and _expensive_. Even Chloé’s father had balked at the price, but Chloé had insisted. She’d thought they were exactly Audrey’s style. But she couldn’t seem to find the words to explain that.

“I don’t want anything from you. Just get away from me; I don’t have the time to waste,” Audrey snapped at her before raising her voice. “Carlos! Get over here!”

Numbly, Chloé stood there in silence as Audrey stalked away. The pain in her chest was such that she could hardly breathe around it.

“ _What_?!” Audrey’s voice was a shrill shriek. “He did _what_?!”

“Audrey, please,” a man was begging. “I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that –”

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught Chloé’s attention.

For there, over the far side of the building, came a purple butterfly.


	11. Gorilla

Adrien was standing there in just his underwear and a thin undershirt, watching two interns argue over which outfit he was supposed to show up in next, when the screaming started.

“What is that?” one of the interns exclaimed, dropping the pair of navy blue pants she was holding and clutching at the other intern in fright.

 _That_ was more than likely an akuma. Adrien instinctively glanced at his hand, but of course the Black Cat miraculous wasn’t there. He had to find Chloé as quickly as possible. He rushed forward, grabbed the pants off the ground, and hauled them on. He was still pulling the zipper out as he dashed out of the back room and headed for the set.

A flash of gold up ahead caught his eye –

And then it was like everything _froze_.

Adrien came to such a quick stop that he almost fell.

Everything that was Marinette in the back of his mind just… vanished.

No emotion, no thought, no soft, reassuring pulse of warmth and affection, no _Marinette_.

He grabbed at his chest, shocked at how much it hurt to be empty.

The sound of laughter made him look up. There was an akuma about five feet in front of him. It was bright, glittery gold from top to bottom. And there…

His heart lurched.

 _Marinette_.

Or at least, what used to be Marinette. Now it was a perfect rendition of Marinette as a gold statue, now wearing a skirt and top. The argument had delayed him, Adrien realized slowly. Marinette must have already been dressed when the akuma made itself known. So Marinette, being the courageous, foolish hero that she was, had rushed out here to either confront the akuma or find Chloé or maybe both –

Only to get caught.

“Mari,” Adrien whispered, the word coming out as a broken sob. He couldn’t feel her. He couldn’t feel _anything_. It was like she was dead.

Because she was, wasn’t she?

Huge hands caught Adrien’s upper arms and practically lifted him off his feet. It took him a solid, dazed minute to work out who was manhandling him, and by that point the Gorilla had carried Adrien all the way off the set and out of the akuma’s reach.

“Wait! No!” Adrien said, but the words came out choked. He flailed weakly because every moment was like someone dragging nails across his skin. 

With every beat of his heart, he was reminded that Marinette’s heart didn’t –

“Wait!”

Chloé rushed up to them, eyes wide and frantic. Both the Gorilla and Adrien looked at her in shock. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were torn, and there was a cut across her temple, just above her eye. It was the most out-of-sorts that Chloé Bourgeois had ever looked in public.

“What happened?” Adrien asked, stunned.

“People panicked when the akuma showed up. I got pushed into the photography equipment,” Chloé said, touching the cut over her eye and wincing. “I was trying to find – I mean, I saw – ” She cut herself off and looked up at Adrien.

The empty spot at the back of Adrien’s mind _ached_.

The akuma let out a laugh, somewhere behind them.

“That suit is _so_ last season!”

“Look out!” Chloé yelped, grabbing Adrien and pulling him away from the Gorilla. There was a flash of gold, so bright that Adrien winced, and then, when he’d blinked the spots away, he saw that the Gorilla had been turned into a gold statue too.

He stared at the statue numbly.

“Adrien! Pay attention! Come on, we have to get out of sight!” Chloé yelled in his ear. She couldn’t carry him, of course, but she could and did physically drag him behind a trailer. 

“Marinette,” he whispered.

“I know. I saw. But Adrien, you’ve got to focus. You have to defeat the akuma. That will bring Marinette back to normal,” Chloé said.

Marinette. Back to normal.

It took a lot of effort to focus on those words, and even more to concentrate on Chloé.

“Defeat the akuma?” he repeated slowly. 

“Yeah! Here.” She thrust out a hand, and he realized she was holding the Ladybug miraculous.

Immediately, Adrien recoiled.

His breathing quickened just seeing the earrings in Chloé’s palm as opposed to in Marinette’s ears where they belonged.

She wanted him to transform with that?

She wanted _him_ to be Ladybug?

 _Marinette_ …

“I can’t,” he choked out, shaking from head to toe. It hurt. Oh god, he hadn’t known that it could hurt this much –

But then, half of his soul was now gone.

Chloé bit her lip, staring at him. She looked scared, and Adrien knew he should want to help – he knew he should want to step up and be the hero that Paris needed – he knew he should do it, just because that’s what Marinette would want him to do.

He couldn’t.

Tears burned at his eyes, falling hotly down his cheeks.

“Okay,” Chloé said, looking like she might cry herself. She tightened her grip around the earrings. Her hand was trembling.

In the distance, someone screamed.

“Okay,” Chloé said again. “Then – then take this, at least.” She offered her other hand, which had the Black Cat miraculous.

That, Adrien could do. 

He slipped the ring back on his finger and, in a little fizzle of green light, Plagg appeared. He took one look at Adrien’s face and his ears drooped.

“Oh no. What happened to Pigtails?”

“She got turned into a gold statue,” Chloé said grimly. “My mother got akumatized.”

“Your mother?” Adrien repeated stupidly.

“Yes. She was – she wasn’t happy –” Chloé didn’t look at them, instead fiddling with something. It wasn’t until she put her hand to her ear that Adrien realized she was putting the Ladybug miraculous on.

His hand shot out and he grabbed her wrist.

Chloé froze.

They stared at each other. Adrien didn’t know what his face looked like, but, in spite of her best efforts, Chloé was starting to cry.

“Adrien, please,” she said, her eyes too bright. “I know I’m not – but there’s no one else –”

“Kid, let go,” Plagg said, more gently than Adrien had ever heard him. “It’s okay.”

“I want to save Marinette,” Chloé said, looking Adrien in the eye. Her chin was quivering. She was small and scared and still bleeding, but she was also determined.

It still felt all wrong.

But Adrien made himself let go.

Chloé quickly put the earrings in her ears and Tikki appeared in a flash of red light. Under any other circumstances, the baffled expression on Tikki’s face would’ve been amusing.

Adrien just felt hollow.

Tikki was smart though, and sized up the situation quickly. “What’s happened to Marinette?”

“She got turned into a gold statue,” Chloé said again. “And Adrien isn’t… um… in the right frame of mind to be Ladybug right now.”

“Ah, yes. Bond shock,” Tikki said, exchanging a grim look with Plagg. “Alright, Chloé. You know what to do?”

“I think so,” Chloé said. She didn’t sound very sure.

“Then say Tikki, spots on.”

Chloé nodded, still chewing her lower lip. She glanced at Adrien, then, like she was afraid he’d change his mind, said very quickly, “Tikki, spots on!”


	12. 25,913

The feel of the Ladybug miraculous was nothing like the Bee miraculous. The Bee miraculous was warm and inviting, like walking through a meadow filled with beautiful flowers and sunshine. The Ladybug miraculous was - _wrong_. Like slipping on a coat that was a little too big, or putting on underwear that was still damp from being washed. For a moment, after it was over, she kept her eyes squeezed tightly shut.

"Come on, Lady Bee. You can't stand there forever," Plagg said.

"Lady Bee?" she asked, even as she opened first one eye and then the other. 

Plagg shrugged at her. "Got a better name?"

No. She really didn't. She looked down at herself and fought back a grimace at the sight of red with black spots. Her suit wasn't exactly the same as Ladybug's, but nor was it the same as Coccinelle's. That was probably a good thing. She didn't want to be mistaken for either one of them.

"You ready for this?" Plagg asked, drawing her attention back to him. He looked very serious. "You've only got one shot at this. If that akuma gets you and gets the Ladybug miraculous in the process, we're screwed."

A chasm of fear opened up in her belly, but she refused to show it. Lady Bee squared her shoulders. "It's fine. I can do this," she said with as much bravado as she could conjure. "You just - you get Adrien to snap out of it. I'm going to need Chat Noir's help."

She glanced at Adrien as she spoke, taking in the glassiness of his green eyes and the unnatural pallor of his skin, and knew that he wasn't going to be much help. Though she vehemently disagreed with the guardian's way of doing things, she could kind of see where the guardian was coming from. Losing Marinette had totally wrecked Adrien. He could barely function. How the hell was he going to pull it together long enough to help fight an akuma?

"Right," Plagg said after a doubtful pause. "I'll... I'll do that."

"God, we're so fucked," Lady Bee muttered, reaching for the yoyo at her hip. It felt strange and unnatural in her hand, but she had studied Ladybug long enough to know how to use it. Long enough to know how to be better than Coccinelle, at any rate. 

She threw the yoyo over head and felt the moment it latched around something sturdy; that, at least, was the same as her stinger. The yoyo yanked her off her feet and up onto the rooftop next door. Lady Bee landed a little hard and went down on one knee. She knelt there for a moment, trying to catch her breath. It didn't work. How did Marinette do this all the time, knowing that the weight of _everything_ was resting on her shoulders? It was so much pressure!

A loud, shrill laugh made Lady Bee flinch. 

Oh yeah, she recognized that laugh.

Being akumatized hadn't changed one thing about Audrey Bourgeois.

Quickly, she got to her feet and walked over to the edge of the building, hiding herself behind a billboard that was advertising '25,913 vitamins mineral water'. Lady Bee rolled her eyes at it and glanced down. The akuma was standing in the middle of the set, surveying the dozens of gold statues with what could only be described as pride. 

"That's much better. And I should know since I am the Style Queen!" the akuma said triumphantly.

Lady Bee took a deep breath and crossed her fingers.

Then she summoned up as much contempt as she was capable of and called out, "Actually, I hear that gold is _out_ this year. Wouldn't that make you unfashionable?"

Style Queen's head shot up. "Ladybug!"

"Not quite," Lady Bee muttered, stepping out from behind the billboard.

A purple butterfly mask flashed over Style Queen's face, and the akuma cocked its head. Then it said, "You're not Ladybug."

"Obviously," Lady Bee drawled, cocking her hip and propping her hand on it. She flipped her ponytail off her shoulder with her other hand and scoffed. "You would think that someone who claims to be the queen of style would be able to recognize that right away, instead of needing Hawkmoth to tell them."

Style Queen puffed up. "How dare you insinuate that I am not the queen of fashion!" She aimed her staff and fired off a blast of gold.

Lady Bee jumped off the building with an alarmed squeak. She threw her yoyo out and, as it caught and slowed her fall, glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the blast strike the billboard. It immediately turned to gold.

So Style Queen's power wasn't limited to humans. Interesting. She didn't know how that information would be relevant, but hopefully it would be helpful somehow.

"You can't get away from me! I won't stop until all of Paris knows that I am _much_ more fashionable than Gabriel Agreste!" Style Queen called angrily.

Gabriel Agreste? Lady Bee shook her head as she landed on the ground, retracting the yoyo with a gentle tug of her wrist. She should have known. Only someone like that would have been able to piss Audrey Bourgeois off this much. 

She quickly hid herself behind a couple of statues and took another look at Style Queen. Honestly, the head-to-toe gold was hard on the eyes in the bright sunlight. But Lady Bee made herself look, trying to figure out what the akumatized object might be. 

Honestly, she hadn't been entirely truthful with Adrien.

When that akuma had shown up, she'd thought -

For a brief moment, she'd thought -

But, well, of course Hawkmoth wouldn't have been aiming for Chloé Bourgeois. Not when Audrey was there. Audrey, with her big emotions and even bigger reactions. She was a prime candidate for akumatization. 

Unfortunately, Chloé hadn't realized that. She had been more focused on getting out of the way of that damn butterfly than she had on watching her mother. By the time she'd realized what was happening, Audrey had already been akumatized and the akuma was gleefully turning people into gold statues left and right. 

And then, she hadn't lied about being pushed into the photography equipment. It had taken her a little while to extricate herself. By that point, Marinette had already been turned into a statue too. For a few seconds, she'd thought she might find a gold statue of Adrien too and had nearly worked herself into a panic attack before finding him and his bodyguard.

"Come out, come out, little girl," Style Queen called out tauntingly. "You can't hide forever. I'll get you." She twirled her staff slowly and turned. The sun glinted off the rose on her hat and Lady Bee's eyes focused in on it.

The rose.

Of course. Even though florals were like three season's ago, Audrey had never gotten rid of her signature rose. There was always one on her outfit somewhere.

All Lady Bee had to do was get her hands on that rose, break it, catch the akuma, and then use the cure to turn everything back to normal.

Piece of cake.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you are going to owe me _so much_ for this," she said under her breath, and stepped out from behind the statue.


	13. Found family

“Kid. Kid, look at me.”

With effort, Adrien obeyed, turning his head to look into his kwami’s eyes. He hadn’t even known that Plagg was capable of that much sympathy, but it was all there painted across Plagg’s little face. It was enough to make Adrien’s stomach flip over, because if even _Plagg_ was feeling that badly for him…

“Ah, shit,” Plagg muttered as fresh tears welled up in Adrien’s eyes. “Tikki is so much better at this than I am. She has way more experience than me. I hate this part of it.”

“What do you mean?” Adrien asked thickly, lifting a hand to wipe his face.

“It’s not usually the cats who lose their bugs. It’s the other way around,” Plagg said. “We’re damned lucky that Marinette wasn’t wearing her miraculous, or we’d really be up the creek.”

“Yeah,” Adrien mumbled, though he didn’t _feel_ very lucky. In fact, he was feeling worse than ever. The emptiness in the back of his head was maddening, like an icy chill settling into his very bones that he couldn’t figure out how to escape.

“Look, I know this is hard for you. I get it,” Plagg said earnestly. “But you have to focus. Lady Bee needs your help. She can’t do this alone. This akuma would be hard for you and Ladybug to take down, but it’s also Lady Bee’s _mother_ that she’s fighting. _She needs you_.”

Adrien didn’t say anything for a moment. He knew that Plagg was right. It wasn’t fair to send Chloé out there on her own. She had only ever participated in one akuma fight, and that was as Queen Bee, not Lady Bee. She was at a big disadvantage here. 

As the only other miraculous holder around, he needed to step up.

He squeezed his eyes shut, letting out a shuddery sigh.

It hurt.

It hurt _so_ much…

But Chloé needed him.

She was more than just his friend; she was family. A found family, not blood, but family nevertheless. Like a sister. After Marinette and his father, Chloé was the most important person to him. She needed him. Adrien had to be there for her.

“Okay,” he croaked, looking at Plagg at last. “Okay. I – I think I can do this.”

Plagg beamed at him. “Yeah you can. Go get your lady back!”

“Right. Plagg, claws out!”

Green light swirled around him, and Chat’s breath caught on a ragged gasp. The feeling of _empty loss_ was even stronger now that he was transformed, which in retrospect made sense. The miraculous had always amplified their bond, and had even caused their bond to deepen faster than usual. So he supposed he should’ve expected the loss to be way more intense too.

But he hadn’t.

He pressed a hand to his chest, feeling his racing heart. Sweat broke out across his forehead, but he found himself shivering. 

Okay.

This was the worst pain he’d ever felt, but he could do this.

He _had_ to do this.

He straightened up, reaching for his baton, and shakily made his way out from behind the trailer to assess the situation.

Neither Lady Bee nor the akuma noticed him right away. Lady Bee was running away from the akuma’s blasts, dodging each one with a nimble skill that made the akuma screech in fury. Keeping himself largely hidden, Chat slowly got closer. The statues, horrifying as they were, made it easy to hide.

He ducked behind a small one and squinted at the akuma.

It was fast, but then all akuma were fast. He wasn’t sure where the akumatized object was, but if they could get that staff away from her then the akuma really wouldn’t have a way to fight them. That would make it a lot easier to get at the object. He would just have to wait for the right moment to pounce. He glanced around, spotted a tree a short distance away, and stood.

Only then did he look at the statue, and promptly did a double take. Was that Félix? He stared in surprise at the statue’s smooth, gold face, which looked almost identical to Adrien’s. 

“I’ll get you!” the akuma screamed.

Chat snapped out of it and quickly scuttled towards the tree, scaling it easily. The thick leaves hid him from view, so that when Lady Bee ran underneath the tree and the akuma followed – 

He dropped.

For a split second, it worked.

He felt the akuma’s hard gold body beneath him and grabbed for the staff.

And then the akuma vanished.

Chat hit the pavement with a yelp.

“Chat!” Lady Bee ran back to him.

“She can teleport?!” he sputtered, sitting up. 

“Apparently,” Lady Bee said, reaching out her hands. He took them and allowed her to pull him just as the akuma reformed with a cackle.

“Nice try, you stupid cat. You’ll have to do better than that to pull one over on Style Queen,” she sneered.

“What are we going to do?” Lady Bee hissed, looking at him expectantly.

“Uh,” Chat said, momentarily drawing a blank. This was normally the time when Ladybug used her Lucky Charm and came up with a fantastic idea to defeat the akuma, but she didn’t usually do that until they had figured out where the akumatized object was. He was about to ask if Lady Bee had any ideas when he glimpsed a glitter of gold out of the corner of his eye.

There was no time for a warning; he grabbed Lady Bee around the waist and used his baton to propel them both out of the way. The blast of magic hit the tree Chat had been hiding in and immediately turned it to solid gold.

Chat landed on the ground several feet away and set Lady Bee down too. He turned to her and said, “Any ideas on where the akuma is?”

“I think it’s the rose in her hat,” Lady Bee replied.

He glanced back at Style Queen as she approached, tracking the rose in her hat. “Okay, then we need to get it away from her. Try your Lucky Charm while I distract her.”

“Be careful,” Lady Bee said, looking at him worriedly. 

“Don’t worry. I’m _purr_ -fect,” Chat said, giving her a wink. He was pleased to see Lady Bee roll her eyes just like Ladybug would have.

He really did think that Marinette and Chloé could be good friends someday. They just had to get Marinette back first.

Determined, he extended his baton and ran at Style Queen. He dodged a blast of gold and then jumped at her; she swung her staff up to meet him, and his baton and her staff connected with a clash that rattled his bones. He fell back and she laughed.

“What’s the matter, kitty?” she taunted. “Didn’t you know leather is out of season?”

“I’d be more concerned about that if I were actually wearing leather,” Chat shot back. As though leather would ever hold up to the kind of beatings that he took!

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a flash of red that meant Lady Bee had summoned her Lucky Charm. Grimly, he held up his baton and went at Style Queen again while hoping that Lady Bee was getting a stroke of inspiration. Because otherwise, he had no idea what they were going to do.


	14. Homeless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From this point onwards, the prompts will be a tiny bit out of order for Reasons. I have also turned anon commenting back on.

“Lucky Charm!” Lady Bee called out, throwing her yoyo overhead. There was a sparkle of red light and then something fell into her outstretched hands. Hoping against hope that it would be something useful, she looked at the object apprehensively.

It was a red, black-spotted camera.

Lady Bee blinked at the camera for a moment, befuddled. What was she supposed to do, take pictures of Style Queen? Blind it with the camera’s flash? Could akumas even get blinded?

There was a sudden clatter and then one of the cameras strewn across the ground turned to gold. Lady Bee flinched and clutched her Charm to her chest, looking around for Chat and the akuma. It didn’t take her long to spot them: Style Queen had Chat backed up against one of the trailers and was slowly advancing on him, but Chat managed to clamber up over the trailer without being hit by a blast and disappear.

“You’re so out of style!” Style Queen shrieked after him. “You’re _all_ out of style!”

And then a stroke of inspiration hit Lady Bee.

“You’re so right, we are all out of style,” Lady Bee called out. Style Queen’s head immediately swung around to face her, and the staff came up. A chill ran down Lady Bee’s spine, but she stood her ground.

“What?” Style Queen said suspiciously.

“I mean, come on. Red with black spots?” Lady Bee gestured to her outfit. “Sure, I’m a little bit more in style than Ladybug ever was… but this is just pathetic. I could learn a lot from you.”

Style Queen said nothing, staring at her with narrowed eyes.

“I also heard a rumor that you fired your personal assistant,” Lady Bee went on, slowly moving a little closer. She hefted the camera, trying not to wince as her miraculous beeped a warning. “If that’s the case, you’re going to need someone who is willing to follow you around and do whatever you need. I could be that person for you. I could even take pictures to show everyone how amazing you really are…” She clicked the button on the camera hopefully and was relieved when the flash went off.

“I’m not stupid enough to fall for that,” Style Queen said contemptuously, yet there was a flicker of interest in her eyes and she had lowered the staff a bit.

“Fall for what?” Lady Bee asked, pasting on an innocent expression. “I just think you’re really beautiful. All golden glitter… Who _wouldn’t_ want to be as in style as you are?” She took a couple more pictures.

The purple butterfly mask flashed over Style Queen’s face, and then she said, “What about the Ladybug miraculous?”

“I’d hand it over, of course,” Lady Bee said smoothly. “This whole hero thing is a lot of work if you ask me. Too much work.”

She got a bit closer yet, still taking tons of pictures. If Style Queen didn’t take the bait, she had no idea what she was going to do. End up homeless, most likely, considering the way Audrey Bourgeois usually treated her husband when she didn’t have the ability to turn him to solid gold. The thought made Lady Bee’s stomach flip, but she forced a charming smile.

“And the Black Cat?” Style Queen said.

“I’d help you get it. That dumb cat would give it to me no problem,” Lady Bee said. She was now within arm’s length of Style Queen. She lifted the camera one more time and let the flash go off right in Style Queen’s face.

“Ah!” Style Queen cried, rearing back and blinking.

So akumas could be blinded. Who knew?

As fast as she could, to the tune of another warning beep from her miraculous, Lady Bee threw out the camera’s strap and let it wrap around Style Queen’s wrist. She yanked and the staff went flying. Chat appeared as though from no where, grabbing the rose right off of Style Queen’s hat. He landed a short distance away.

“No!” Style Queen screeched.

“Cataclysm!” Chat called, and the golden rose turned to black dust. Lady Bee watched the purple butterfly start to fly away and grabbed her yoyo.

“Oh no you don’t,” she hissed, letting the yoyo snap out and snag the akuma. “I free you from evil!” She reeled the yoyo in and gently stroked the back of it just like Ladybug always did. The yoyo split open, much like a real ladybug’s wings would, and this time a white butterfly flew out.

In a rush of purple-y grey light, Style Queen returned back to a dazed looking Audrey Bourgeois.

“You did it!” Chat exclaimed, grabbing Lady Bee around the waist and spinning her around. “I knew you could do it!”

Lady Bee laughed, feeling almost giddy with relief. “Of course I did it,” she said, trying to sound like she had never doubted herself.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Chat chanted, hugging her so tightly that it hurt. “You’re the best sister ever!”

Sister?

Lady Bee blinked.

“What the hell is going on?” Audrey exclaimed, just as Lady Bee’s miraculous beeped a third time.

“Uh, you got akumatized,” Chat said, setting Lady Bee down. 

“I should probably –” Lady Bee gave Audrey a wide berth as she walked over to her Charm. Most cameras probably would’ve shattered into a hundred pieces after being so forcefully flung away, but, of course, this one was fine.

“What do you mean, akumatized?” Audrey was demanding of Chat.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” Lady Bee shouted, throwing her Lucky Charm in the air. It split into a thousand streams of sparkly red light that shot in every direction. She watched as all of the gold statues near them were returned to normal.

Chat gasped and staggered, a hand coming up to clutch at his heart. “She’s back,” he breathed, and then in the next instant he was gone.

Gone to Marinette.

“Look, you’ll be fine,” Lady Bee said, turning to Audrey. “Just stop being such a spoiled bitch and it won’t happen again.”

Audrey’s mouth fell open; she was so enraged he was speechless.

Lady Bee flashed her a grim smile and left to the tune of her miraculous beeping a fourth time. She managed to find a hiding spot behind one of the trailers just as it beeped for a fifth time, and then her transformation came undone in a sparkle of red light. Chloé held out her hands and caught Tikki.

“You did it, Chloé! I’m so proud of you!” Tikki squealed.

“Oh, um, thanks,” Chloé said, flustered. Now that the fight was over, reality was sinking in. She was suddenly glad that there was a wall she could brace herself again. 

“You saved Marinette _and_ your mother _and_ the whole city. You make a wonderful Ladybug,” Tikki said.

“Thanks,” Chloé said again. “But I think I prefer being a Bee.”

Tikki giggled. “I’m not surprised. Everyone is ideally suited to one miraculous over the other, and you’re the best Bee that Pollen has had in quite a while,” she said. “But I would happily work with you as a substitute Ladybug anytime.”

Chloé smiled, warmed by the praise. “Let’s hope that you never have to use a substitute again,” she said. “Now, um, you eat… cookies, was it?”

“Ooh, yes!” Tikki said “I’m starving if you have any.”

“I don’t, but I’m sure there’s a refreshment table around here somewhere. I’d take you to Marinette, but I’m sure she and Adrien are being all…” Chloé wrinkled her nose.

“Yeah, let’s not disturb them for a bit,” Tikki agreed. “May I hide in your purse?”

“Sure.” Chloé tucked the kwami away in her purse and then took a moment – just a moment – to herself. 

Chat had called her his sister.

Then she’d called her mom a spoiled bitch.

What a day.


	15. Tell a joke

It was like standing around outside in the freezing cold for hours on end and then stepping inside where there was a roaring fire and warm tea. 

‘What? What happened?’ Marinette thought, first with surprise and then with growing alarm when she felt how chaotic his emotions were. There was nothing to hide between them, so of course she immediately picked up on everything. He could feel the moment that she sorted through the confusing mess and really understood what had happened, because she was radiating horror and dismay. 

Chat really should have stuck around to talk to Lady Bee, but he couldn’t contain himself. He launched himself in the direction that he’d last seen Marinette, the beep of his miraculous ringing in his ears. He had eyes for nothing but her as he raced through the crowd of people. She met him, coming the last little bit, and he scooped her up in his arms and made for the nearest rooftop.

“Plagg, claws in,” he gasped as they landed. Plagg appeared in a flash of green light as Adrien clutched Marinette to him, burying his face in her hair and shaking.

‘You were gone. You were _gone_ ,’ he thought raggedly. The place where their bond was all lit up in the back of his head now, pulsing with soft warmth, but he couldn’t forget how it felt to have Marinette gone. It was one thing to know how it was from her perspective. It was something altogether different to personally experience it, and he _never_ wanted to lose her again.

“Oh, _Chaton_. I’m so sorry,” Marinette whispered, running her hands soothingly through his hair.

“I’m gonna go catch up with Chloé and Tikki,” Plagg said to them. Marinette waved him off.

“I should be the one apologizing. I didn’t really know what it was like before. I can’t believe you’ve gone through that twice. First with Dark Cupid and then with Timebreaker. God, Mari, how did you do it?” Adrien said, his voice breaking.

Marinette sighed, still petting his hair. “Well, with Dard Cupid, our bond was cut off, but it was still there,” she said slowly, shuddering at the memory. “And I knew you were still okay because I could see you… so that wasn’t quite as bad. But Timebreaker… well, you saw my memories. I pretty much broke down on the spot. If it were for Alya, Nino, and Chloé, we wouldn’t be here having this conversation right now.”

“Funny you say that. Chloé totally saved my ass this time too,” Adrien mumbled. He was a little ashamed of how he’d left Chloé to handle the akuma. He might have transformed and served as a distraction, but his heart hadn’t been in the fight. If Chloé hadn’t been there, Style Queen definitely would’ve overpowered him.

“I never thought I’d say this, but I’m really grateful for Chloé,” Marinette said, pushing as much comfort and assurance through their bond as she could. Adrien basked in the feelings, knowing that he would never take her presence for granted again. Not that he ever had, but now he knew what it was like to lose her and it was the worst thing in the world.

“You would have been proud of her. Her plan was really smart,” he said. At first, he hadn’t been sure of what Lady Bee was doing – he’d known that she was trying to get physically close to Style Queen, but not what her plan was. As soon as he’d seen that staff go out of commission though, his body had reacted and he’d found himself with the rose in his hand almost before his brain knew what was going on.

“I _am_ proud of her. Being Ladybug is hard, and so is interpreting the Lucky Charm that you get. She did a good job,” Marinette said. “And I’m glad she was here for you. I wasn’t sure about giving her the Bee miraculous at first, but now I think it’s one of the best decisions I ever made.”

‘I’d like to talk to Master Fu about giving her the Bee miraculous permanently,’ Adrien thought.

‘Are you telling a joke?’ Marinette thought, even though she knew he wasn’t. She could feel how serious he was.

‘No, I’m not. I think us having back-up makes sense,’ Adrien thought back, finally pulling back to look her in the face. ‘Neither of us are at our best when the other gets compromised. Master Fu was worried about that. If Chloé has a miraculous too, then we’ve got coverage if something goes wrong.’

‘I don’t disagree, but it’s going to be a hard sell with Master Fu. You heard him. He went on and on about how worried he is that another miraculous will go missing or turn up evil,’ Marinette thought. She studied Adrien’s face for a moment, then kissed his forehead, the tip of his nose, both cheeks, and finally his mouth.

Adrien kissed her back hard, pouring his fear and desperation into the kiss and their bond. Marinette gladly accepted his feelings and sent back so much love and affection that his eyes were bright with tears when they separated.

“I love you,” he told her.

Marinette reached up and brushed away a tear from his face. “I love you too. I’m sorry you went through that. I’m going to kick Hawkmoth’s butt when he find him.”

“You’re going to have to get in line,” Adrien said, trying for a smile.

Something beeped and they both startled, looking at each other in surprise.

It took Adrien much longer than it should have to realize that it was his phone.

“Who is it?” Marinette asked as he put the phone to his ear.

“It’s Nathalie… hello?” Adrien said.

“Adrien, where are you?” Nathalie demanded. “We’re going to resume shooting in fifteen minutes.”

“Wait, we’re not stopping for the day?” Adrien said in surprise.

Nathalie huffed. “If we stopped every time an akuma interrupted us, we would never get anything done,” she said crisply, and Adrien had to admit hat she wasn’t wrong. “Your father will not be returning, but he expects you and Mlle Dupain-Cheng to finish the shoot as quickly as possible.”

“Right. I hid in a building nearby when the akuma showed up. I’ll make my way back,” Adrien said, glancing at Marinette.

‘Are you sure you’re ready for this?’ she thought at him. He hung up and sighed.

“No, but I don’t have a choice. Nathalie will get suspicious if I don’t come back,” he replied out loud. “She’ll want to know what happened that I don’t want to continue. Even if I said it’s because I got turned into a statue, or saw it happen to you, they won’t consider that a good enough reason.”

Marinette frowned deeply. “Nathalie sucks as much as your father.”

“I don’t disagree,” Adrien said, running a hand through his messy, gelled hair. The last thing he felt like doing was modelling, but if he didn’t do it now then the whole shoot would have to be re-done. 

“Well, first we have to get down off this roof,” Marinette said, looking around. Adrien had his miraculous, but no kwami. They were going to have to get down the old-fashioned way.

“You don’t have to model if you don’t want to, My Lady,” he said.

“I don’t want to be separated from you right now,” Marinette told him with a gentle smile, squeezing his hands. He could tell she wasn’t enthusiastic about modelling anymore – not that she’d ever been in the first place – but she was willing to do it for him, so that they could remain close. It was almost enough to make Adrien tear up all over again.

“Come on,” he said, trying to calm himself down. Red, teary eyes didn’t look good in photos. “The emergency stairs are over here.” He took her hand, lacing their fingers, and led her over to the stairs.


	16. Plagg

Marinette found Chloé standing by the concession table. Chloé’s head was bent, and she seemed to be slipping food into her purse. A little smile crossed Marinette’s face as she watched Chloé pick up two cookies and a handful of cheese cubes. No need to wonder where Tikki and Plagg had gone off to, then. 

“Chloé?” she said quietly, but Chloé still jumped and nearly knocked a glass of water off the table.

“What? I wasn’t doing anything!” Chloé said, then recovered quickly when she saw who it was. “Oh, it’s you. Did you come for your miraculous?”

“No. I’m still supposed to be –” Marinette jerked a thumb over her shoulder, then self-consciously smoothed down the front of her skirt. It was a little shorter than she usually wore, and she kept thinking that it was going to fly up when she moved. 

‘I’d be okay with that,’ Adrien thought. As soon as he’d walked on set, he’d been marched back inside for wardrobe, hair, and make-up. Marinette had been lucky enough to escape all that, as being turned into a gold statue didn’t exactly mess up your hair.

‘I’m sure you would,’ she thought dryly, mentally rolling her eyes at him. The flicker of amusement she got in response was enough to make her smile.

“Oh,” Chloé said again, looking a bit confused. “Your kwami is fine, if that’s what you wanted to know.” She shifted towards Marinette, holding out her purse so that Marinette could peek inside. Tikki and Plagg were seated comfortably inside, both munching away on food – though Tikki set down her cookie when she saw Marinette.

“Marinette! I’m so glad you’re okay!” she cried.

“I’m fine, Tikki,” Marinette said, slipping her hand into the purse so she could give Tikki a quick head rub. Then she scratched Plagg under the chin a couple of times, smiling again when Plagg purred loudly and butted his head against her hand.

“I can hold onto them until the set is done, if you want,” Chloé said.

“That would be great,” Marinette said, withdrawing her hand and looking at Chloé thoughtfully. Chloé had never seemed so uncertain before. She was always confident, even when she was wrong. But she was looking at Marinette like she thought Marinette was going to be mad at her – or, Marinette realized slowly, like she thought Marinette was going to throw a fit because Chloé had temporarily taken over as Ladybug.

That just wouldn’t do.

Without warning, giving Chloé no chance to run, Marinette reached out and hugged her.

Chloé froze.

“Wh-what are you doing?!” she squeaked in alarm.

‘Marinette?’ Adrien thought in surprise at the same time.

Marinette ignored him and answered Chloé, saying, “Thank you for taking care of Adrien, Tikki and Plagg for me when I couldn’t. Thank you for protecting the city. I know the Ladybug miraculous is a heavy weight to bear; I usually have Adrien there with me to help share in it, but he was having a hard time… You did so good, Chloé. I’m proud to call you my friend.”

Because she was.

When had that happened?

‘Mari…’ Adrien thought again, and now his emotions had shifted a lot closer to crying again.

Marinette had to blink back tears of her own. She wasn’t sure when Chloé had become someone that she was just trying to get along with for Adrien’s sake to someone that Marinette actually _liked_. Because for all of her attitude, Chloé was both dependable and trustworthy. Not many people would have been able to take up the Ladybug miraculous like that with so little prior experience, and even fewer would have been that willing to give it back.

“Uh,” Chloé said, sounding baffled. “Marinette, what are you _doing_?!” She stood tensely in Marinette’s grip, not relaxing into the hug at all.

“Hugging you,” Marinette said dryly, squeezing tighter. “I know you’re not really used to them, but this is the part where you hug me back.”

“Not happening,” Chloé replied, her arms remaining at her sides.

But she also didn’t pull away.

It was Marinette who finally let go, pulling back to look at Chloé’s face again. “Sorry if that made you uncomfortable. I just wanted to say thanks.”

Chloé was quiet for a moment, just staring at Marinette.

Then she said, “I told my mom she was a spoiled bitch.”

Adrien had just taken a sip of water; he choked.

Marinette’s jaw dropped.

From Chloé’s purse came a cackle of laughter, and then Plagg poked his head up. “I knew I liked you for a reason,” he told Chloé, smirking. Marinette quickly glanced around, but not a single soul was paying them any attention. Everyone seemed preoccupied with cleaning up the set as quickly as they could so that things could resume. Still, she shifted a bit closer to Chloé to better hide the kwami.

And it was a good thing she did, because Tikki’s head emerged a moment later. She was grinning. “Normally I would tell you to respect your elders, but in this case your mother totally deserved it. Good for you, Chloé.”

“She did deserve it. The only reason she got akumatized was because she was acting like a dumb kid. I’m sure it was over something stupid,” Chloé said. “It’s not like she has anything genuine to be upset about.” She didn’t look at Marinette as she spoke, instead staring at the ground.

‘Uh oh,’ Adrien thought once he’d recovered from his coughing fit – and assured his hair stylist he wasn’t choking to death. ‘It sounds like Chloé’s mom said something mean. Again.’

Marinette thought so too, but she didn’t think it was her place to pry. Not yet. Maybe someday she and Chloé would have that kind of friendship where they could really open up to each other, but too much too soon would probably just push Chloé away.

So she said, “Anytime you want to borrow the Ladybug miraculous to tell your mom off, just let me know.”

A small smile crossed Chloé’s face. “Thanks, but I’d rather have the Bee miraculous back. The Ladybug feels weird.”

“Weird? Is that normal?” Marinette asked, looking to Tikki and Plagg. Both of them nodded.

“Everyone is ideally suited for one miraculous over the others,” Tikki explained. “Now you, Marinette, could probably use the Black Cat miraculous without feeling too weird because Adrien is your soulmate, and vice versa. But do you remember feeling strange when you used the Bee miraculous?”

Marinette contemplated that for a moment.

‘I do. I remember the Fox feeling weird,’ Adrien thought. ‘I just thought it was the heat of the moment.’

“Kind of. Adrien does too,” Marinette said finally. “But neither of us had the time to pay any attention to it. We were kind of preoccupied.”

“Yes,” Tikki said darkly, exchanging a look with Plagg. “You were. That makes sense.”

“So anyone can use any miraculous they want to?” Chloé said, looking trouble. “That seems… well, dangerous.”

“It is,” Marinette said. “That’s how Hawkmoth ended up with the Butterfly.” She found herself about to tell Chloé about the missing Peacock miraculous too when someone called her name, and she looked over to realize that they were ready to keep going.

“Good luck,” Chloé said, following her gaze.

“Thanks,” Marinette replied. She hesitated for a moment before going.

‘I don’t think Master Fu would want us telling Chloé about the Peacock,’ Adrien thought as he walked out onto set.

‘Too bad for Master Fu. I’m tired of secrets,’ Marinette thought back, walking over to join him. He grinned at her, in total agreement with what she’d said, and they turned to face the cameras together.


	17. We match

"Adrien? You're going to be late for school."

"I'm coming," Adrien called, giving the mirror one last critical look. He smoothed down a wayward strand of hair before turning away and grabbing his backpack. Plagg was already snoozing away inside, so all he had to worry about was picking up his cell phone from where it was charging on his nightstand. He tucked his phone in his pocket as he headed out the door and down the stairs - 

Where he stopped dead.

"Adrien! Oh my gosh, finally!" 

That was all the warning he got before he was wrapped up in a gigantic hug that was so tight he let out a squeak. Amélie just giggled and squeezed him a bit tighter still, but Adrien didn't mind. He managed to squirm around enough so that he could get his arms around her in return, realizing as he did that he was tall enough to easily rest his head on her shoulder. When had that happened?

'Your aunt?' Marinette thought blearily, peering through his eyes. 'Wow, she looks just like your mom!'

'Almost. My mom's hair was the same color as mine, and she had lighter eyes,' Adrien thought back. But Marinette wasn't exactly wrong. Except for her platinum blond hair and darker green eyes, Amélie Graham de Vanily was identical to Èmilie Agreste. Even their voices were similar. It still hurt a little to hear her speak, because it wasn't _quite_ the same but it was _so close_ -

"You're growing up, my goodness!" Amélie gushed, pulling back to look him up and down. 

"Well, it hasn't been almost a year," Adrien said, smiling back at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to discuss your mother's will with your father," Amélie replied.

"Amélie," Gabriel said sharply, and Adrien startled. He hadn't even seen his father appear at the door of his office, yet there he was. Gabriel did _not_ look happy. It was the sort of expression that would've had Adrien shaking in his shoes before the conversation even started, but Amélie just scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Oh Gabriel, don't be such a bear. Adrien is old enough to hear about these kinds of things," she said, reaching out and running her hand through Adrien's hair. "He's not a child anymore, are you?"

"No," Adrien said, shaking his head. Though he sure felt like one sometimes.

'Wait,' Marinette thought. 'Your aunt and your dad don't get along?'

'No, they never have,' Adrien thought back. Amélie and Gabriel were staring each other down. 'I'm not really sure why, but it was like that even when I was a kid.' It had never seemed to bother his mother, and Amélie clearly found it funny: she took delight in winding Gabriel up and pretending not to notice when he got pissed off. And since no one could piss Gabriel off quite like Amélie could, it worked.

"Adrien is still _my_ child," Gabriel said at last, eyes flashing. "That is not an appropriate topic of conversation. Now if you want to meet with me again, I suggest you hurry up. My schedule is busy."

'Oh,' Adrien thought, stunned, and he and Marinette came to the simultaneous realization that Amélie was the one that Gabriel had been meeting with previously. 

'At least that explains why your dad was in such a bad mood when he showed up at the modeling shoot,' Marinette thought.

'More than that, I bet he thinks she stole whatever went missing,' Adrien thought. That was exactly the sort of thing Gabriel would accuse his sister-in-law of - and frankly, Adrien wouldn't have put it past Amélie. She had been furious about Gabriel's attitude following Èmilie's death; she'd actually shown up at the mansion, demanding to have access to some of her sister's things, and Gabriel had turned her away... but not before the two of them had had an explosive fight. Adrien had been confined to his room during the argument, but he still remembered the indistinct, raised voices.

"Fine," Amélie said, folding her arms over her chest. "Adrien, honey, I'd love to catch up with you before I leave."

"Sure," Adrien said, not looking at his father. "How long are you in town for?"

Amélie hummed in thought. "Probably at least three or four more days. There are some exhibits I'd like to take Félix to before we head home, and of course I know he'd love to see you too."

So that had been Félix the other day, Adrien realized. In the rush to get to Marinette after the akuma's defeat, he hadn't even thought to look for his cousin. 

"That would be nice," he said slowly, though that wasn't the whole truth. He loved Félix because they were family, but there was no denying that Félix could be kind of a dick sometimes.

'He must be really bad if you're saying that,' Marinette thought.

'You don't know the half of it,' Adrien thought, pushing some memories in her direction. Félix wasn't exactly what anyone would call _warm_. He'd never liked spending much time with Adrien, but he did have a fondness for dressing up as Adrien. One time, he'd tried to fool Chloé. It had taken her half an hour to figure out why "Adrien" was acting so strangely and then she'd nearly decked Félix as a result.

When Adrien later asked him about it, all Félix had done was stare and say, "Look, cousin, we match" in a deadpan, unenthusiastic tone that left Adrien shaking his head.

"Great! I'll speak to Nathalie and set up a time for us all to have coffee," Amélie said cheerfully, patting Adrien's cheek. Then she walked past Gabriel and into the office. Gabriel sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose.

"Adrien, your photoshoot this afternoon has been canceled. Nathalie is otherwise occupied this morning, so she has not been able to reorganize your schedule for a replacement. She'll contact you later," Gabriel said, before he followed Amélie. The door swung shut behind them and left Adrien frowning at it.

That was... weird.

'Why weird?' Marinette thought.

'I don't know what else Nathalie could be doing, that's all. She's always with my father,' Adrien thought, hitching his backpack higher on his shoulder. 

'Maybe he didn't want her sitting in on the meeting with your aunt,' Marinette thought back.

Adrien considered that and realized that it was likely. Nathalie knew a lot about what went on in the Agreste household, but there were some things that not even she was privy to. 

'Oh well. I guess it means my afternoon is free! I'll just pretend that I don't see Nathalie's text later,' he thought with growing cheer. 'Maybe we can go to your house after school and play some video games.'

'That sounds great! Alya's still bugging me to get ice cream, so we should get her, Nino and Chloé and go get some,' Marinette thought.

Adrien smiled, pleased that she had included Chloé in the mix. 'That sounds like the best afternoon I've had in a long time,' he thought happily. Maybe their luck was finally turning around.


	18. Statue

"Marinette, wake up."

"Hmm..."

"Marinette!"

"Mmm."

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, if you don't open your eyes right now, I'm going to set your sketchbook on fire!”

Marinette's eyes shot up and she lurched upright, nearly smacking her head right into Tikki. The kwami dodged just in time, and Marinette was left flailing for a moment before she regained her bearings. She looked around the room, half-expecting to see a fire, but there was nothing that would warrant such a rude awakening.

"Tikki, what's going on?" she said through a yawn, fumbling for her phone. She squinted at the time, groaning when she realized that it was a quarter past three in the morning. It was _way_ too early for kwami shenanigans.

"I think there's an akuma," Tikki said, and Marinette's annoyance died swiftly only to return with a vengeance - this time, directed at Hawkmoth.

"Seriously? At 3am in the damn morning?" she muttered, rubbing at her eyes. Adrien was still sound asleep, a quiet presence in the back of her mind, and she longed to roll over and join him. But now that she was fully awake, she could hear - in the distance - the sound of screaming. It could be the kind of problem that was best left for the police, but she and Chat should really go check it out just in case. She would never forgive herself if she slept through an akuma and the police showed up to deal with it and someone ended up getting hurt.

"It is unusual," Tikki said slowly, looking worried. "He doesn't usually attack at night, and he definitely doesn't send out akumas so soon after the last one. It's only been two days. I'm worried, Marinette. Something doesn't feel right. You and Adrien will have to be even more careful than usual."

"Do you think it could be a trap?" Marinette asked worriedly.

"I don't know. Maybe," Tikki said.

Marinette pursed her lips, reaching out to nudge at her snoozing partner. 'Adrien, wake up. Tikki thinks there's an akuma.'

'Wha - My Lady?' Adrien thought, muzzled and fuzzy with sleep in the most adorable way. It made her stomach flip, and she honestly just wanted to grab him and snuggle with him. Stupid Hawkmoth.

'There's an akuma,' she thought again, reaching for the covers and pushing them away. 

'Already?' Adrien thought, quickly becoming more alert. 'But we just fought Style Queen!'

'I know. Tikki thinks Hawkmoth might be planning something,' Marinette thought. 'Meet me at the school?'

'Sure. I just have to drag Plagg out of bed,' Adrien thought back, and, in spite of the tense nature of the situation, Marinette's lips quirked into a smile. No one hated early mornings more than Plagg.

"Alright. Tikki, spots on!" Marinette whispered loudly. There was a flash of red light, and then Ladybug stood up gingerly. She quickly piled a couple of pillows beneath her covers to make it look like she was still in bed if her parents happened to get up - she knew that sometimes her papa checked on her on his way downstairs to start the baking for the day, and it wouldn't be long before he was up. For that matter, depending on how long this akuma took to fight, her maman might even be up before she got back.

That done, she cracked open her window and easily hefted herself up onto her balcony. It was a cool, breezy night. The air felt nice on her face. But there was no time to really enjoy it. Ladybug swiftly made her way towards Collège Françoise Dupont. By the time she got there, she knew that Tikki was right. People were running around the streets of Paris. It looked a little like monsters were chasing some of them, though she was too high up and they were moving too fast for her to be sure. She landed on the rooftop of the school and crouched down to observe.

By the time that Chat Noir landed next to her, Ladybug had seen some very bizarre things indeed. She'd watched a woman being chased by a gigantic puppy. Another man had spent close to twenty minutes sobbing beside what appeared to be a statue of a flower. Another man seemed capable of turning the streets to Paris to quicksand; he kept jumping and crying until Ladybug's yoyo had pulled him to safety. She'd tried to talk to him, but he'd acted like he couldn't even see her and had run off before she could stop him.

"What the hell is going on?" Chat said, who had been privy to all of this through their bond. He'd witnessed some bizarre things himself. 

"It's got to be an akuma, but I haven't seen anything," Ladybug said. "This is one weird akuma." She gestured to a crowd of skeletons that were dancing down the street. 

Chat rubbed the back of his head, frowning. "So... should we just go try to find the akuma?"

"I guess. I tried to help a couple people, but -"

"But it's like they don't even know we're here," Chat finished, looking as troubled as she felt. "Here, maybe some height will give an edge."

He held out his baton, touching one end to the ground, and then raised an arm. Ladybug stepped closer, wrapping an arm around his neck as his arm tightened around her waist. The ground fell away from them as Chat extended his baton until they were hundreds of feet above the roof of the school. Then, he easily shifted her weight up and around until he was perched atop the baton and she was sitting neatly on his thigh. 

"You know, sometimes I forget what a cat you are," she said, amused in spite of the situation. "And then you do something like perch on top of a tiny pole and somehow make it look comfortable."

"It _is_ comfortable," Chat said, brushing a kiss against her cheek before looking around.

Reminded of their reason for being up here, Ladybug looked around too. Her eyes tracked over the city as far as she could see. Tonight, it wasn't enough to search for something unusual. Not when it seemed like all of Paris was descending into chaos. She tried to ignore the lights and everything else, but that was easier said than done -

"I don't see anything," she said, frustrated.

"Me either - wait. What's that?" 

Ladybug swung around, trusting Chat to steady her, until she could see where he was pointing to. In the distance, just barely visible, was a glitter of... _something_.

"I have no idea. I can barely see it," she said, squinting. She wouldn't have even noticed it unless Chat had pointed it out. His eyesight was definitely better than hers, which was kind of unfair since he had better hearing too.

"I can't quite make it out, but let's head in that direction," Chat said. "Ready?"

She smiled. "Ready."

He grinned too and, abruptly, his baton disappeared from beneath them. They fell, hurtling towards the school's roof, until Ladybug deemed the distance just right. She grabbed her yoyo in one hand and Chat's wrist in the other, and threw her yoyo out. Instead of hitting the roof, they swung forward in a great arc towards the glitter.


	19. No girls allowed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anon comments are off again because of the Lila anon.

"Just to check," Chat said slowly. "You're seeing a little kid floating around on a pillow, right?"

Silently, Ladybug nodded.

Chat sighed and propped his hands on his hips. "That's what I thought."

"The Sandboy just checked in! Now nightmares can begin!" the akuma - presumably Sandboy, sang as he floated around. With every move of his pillow, golden glitter rained down on Paris. Chat was going to go out on a limb and guess that was how the akuma was creating all those nightmares. 

"We're going to have to make sure we don't get touched by glitter," Ladybug murmured, taking her yoyo into her hand. But she hesitated before she threw it out, eyeing the akuma with trepidation.

'He's still an akuma,' Chat thought.

'I know. I _know_. But... he looks so little,' she thought back, glancing at him uncertainly. 'What if we hurt him?'

'Based on the past akuma we've faced, I'm more worried about _it_ hurting us,' Chat thought, tightening his grip on his baton. He was certain that glitter wasn't the akuma's only power. It probably had enhanced strength and speed, like all akuma. And he was sure that it wouldn't hesitate to bring the fight to him and Ladybug if Hawkmoth commanded it to. Little or not, they couldn't let their guards down.

'Let's just try to finish this one quickly,' Ladybug thought. 'You go right and I'll go left.'

He nodded at her and obeyed, stealthily making his way towards the akuma. It was floating above the city, watching the all of the panicking Parisians and giggling to itself. Clearly, it took a great deal of amusement out of their nightmares. But that meant it was also distracted, so Chat was able to scale the side of a building to get close to it. He hid in the shadows of an emergency escape, waiting for just the right moment -

And Ladybug pounced.

"No girls allowed!" Sandboy screeched, dodging her nimbly. Ladybug soared past it and landed harmlessly on the roof, rolling to a stop with an aggravated huff.

"Damn it," Chat said under his breath. While Sandboy was facing Ladybug, he took his chance and made a jump of his own.

Sandboy spun, lightning-quick, and blew a handful of glitter right in his face.

"Chat!" Ladybug screamed.

Their bond slammed shut.

Chat hit the roof far more roughly than Ladybug had, with a choked gasp and a hand clutching his chest.

He tried to reach out mentally to Ladybug, but there was nothing.

 _There was nothing_.

She was gone all over again -

"Chat!" Then, suddenly, Ladybug was at his side. Her hands grabbed at his arms and literally hauled him to his feet. Chat tried to find his footing but couldn't, stumbling against her; she grabbed him around the waist and yanked him into another freefall.

But before they fell very far, Ladybug's yoyo caught them and lowered them safely to the ground.

Sandboy cackled overhead.

"My - My Lady," Chat whispered, fumbling to get his arms around her. He didn't understand how she could be _here_ , but not in his head.

"It's a nightmare, Chat," Ladybug said, trying to sound calm. But he could hear the undertone of fear in her voice, and it scared him.

"A nightmare?" he repeated, trying to focus.

"Yeah. That's his power. He's like the sand man, but - not. He's bringing people's nightmares to life. Your nightmare - _my_ nightmare - " She cut herself off, her fingers digging into his arms, and he knew what she was going to say even without their bond.

Their nightmare was losing each other.

"I guess I should be glad that a zombie Ladybug isn't trying to chase us around the city," Chat said with as much forced lightness as he could muster.

Ladybug let out a shaky laugh. "Gosh, that would really be something, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah..." Chat put his face in her hair, breathing in the comforting scent of her shampoo. It wasn't like the statue incident at all, he reminded himself. Ladybug was here. Right here. In his arms. Warm and breathing and holding onto him just as tightly.

"Do you think..." Ladybug began, and then stopped.

Chat experienced a moment of total disorientation.

He had never had a conversation with Ladybug where they weren't 100% on the same page.

Usually, it wasn't even necessary for them to speak out loud because it was so much quicker for their thoughts to entangle and race wordlessly ahead.

He didn't know what to do with the fact that he had no idea what she was about to say next.

Ladybug was looking up at him expectantly.

But when he remained silent, her face fell.

"Right," she said, more to himself than her. "You can't hear me."

"I'm sorry," Chat said miserably. "I should've been more careful."

"It's okay," Ladybug said. "I can still feel you. It's faint, but not like it was - before. I bet if I get hit, the bond will shut down completely on my side too."

"Let's hope that doesn't happen," Chat said. He didn't want her to feel the way that he did right now, like she would be gone completely if he let go of her. The thought was enough to make him shudder.

"Maybe not, then," Ladybug murmured.

"Maybe not what?" Chat asked.

She sighed. "I thought - Queen Bee might be useful."

"Oh." Chat considered that for a moment. He could see where she was coming from. A third body might be helpful to round Sandboy up, but he didn't know what Chloé's worst nightmare would be. Was Paris really ready for a crazy version of Audrey Bourgeois to be running around?

Probably not, but he wasn't sure that they had a choice. More help would be really beneficial at this point.

Frankly, they could have benefitted from two or three more people...

Like Alya and Nino.

He decided to shelve that thought for now - Sandboy didn't seem like the kind of akuma they should throw newbies at unless it was absolutely necessary - and nodded.

"I think you're right. That means one of us should go to Master Fu's."

They looked at each other.

"I'll go," Ladybug said finally, reluctantly. "He'll probably argue with me less."

"Right." Chat breathed through a spike of fear. It made sense. He'd already been exposed to Sandboy's attack, though of course there was always the chance that Sandboy could make more than one nightmare come true. He tired not to think about that, though that just made him think about Ladybug leaving. Without their bond, without her -

"I'll be right back," she said, darting in to kiss his cheek. "I love you." She kissed his cheek again, and then his mouth. Softly at first, then harder.

Chat never wanted her to go.

But she had to.

He watched her disappear over the rooftop and couldn't hold back the shudder that wracked his body. 

For the second time in as many days, he was _empty_.

In the distance, Sandboy laughed as someone screamed.

Chat bit his lip, then squared his shoulders. He wasn't going to be useless this time. He slammed his baton against the ground and propelled himself into the sky in the direction of the laughter.


	20. Bugaboy

Ladybug made her way north as fast as she could; she took to the rooftops because it was easier than having to deal with the panicking people on the ground. Nightmares were running rampant. Not even Zombizou's effect had spread this fast. It was unbelievable how far Sandboy's glittery sand could travel on the wind. If they didn't hurry up and deal with this, the whole of Paris would be dealing with their own personal nightmares. And that was not something she wanted to have to handle on top of what was already proving to be a very annoying akuma.

"Ladybug, help me!"

The temptation to ignore the cry for help was strong, but in the end she couldn't bring herself to do it. So she slowed, looking around until she saw the source of the cry. A young girl was waving her arms from the sidewalk. Ladybug didn't see any nightmares around her, but she still secured her yoyo to something that would hold her weight and then dropped down until she was able to scoop the girl into her arms.

"It's gonna get me!" the little girl sobbed, clinging to her.

"What is?" Ladybug said, eyes darting around. Tonight, she would have expected anything.

"The pink monster!"

The pink monster? She didn't know what that was. Frankly, she didn't want to find out. With a gentle tug of her wrist, her yoyo retracted and pulled them back up into the air. Ladybug swung her legs over the side of the roof and settled the little girl on her hip. 

"There's no monster," she said, as reassuringly as she could when it was entirely a possible a pink monster was going to come find them both. "Now, your mommy and daddy must be looking for you. Where do you live?"

In between stuttering sobs, the little girl told her. It meant Ladybug had to deviate from her route, but she felt she didn't have a choice: she couldn’t leave a child out here alone. She followed the little girl's directions to a small apartment building. There was a man out front looking around frantically; he gave a shout when he saw the little girl in Ladybug's arms.

"Antoinette! Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you!" He came quickly towards them.

"Papa!" the little girl wailed, squirming down from Ladybug's arms, and running to the man. He grabbed her up and hugged her.

"Thank you, Ladybug," he said.

"You're welcome," Ladybug said, trying to force a smile. Was that his nightmare? His little girl going missing? What happened if someone ended a nightmare? Did a new one start? The problem was that she couldn't stick around to find out. She had already been gone too long as it was. She bid the little girl and the man goodbye, hoping they would be okay, and took to the roofs again.

As she resumed her mission, she consoled herself with the knowledge that at least she could still feel Chat, sort of. The bond was definitely duller than it had ever been, like someone had draped a veil over Chat's side of it. If she got hit by Sandboy's glitter, it would probably disappear entirely. Her chest twisted at the thought. She didn't know if she could bear that again, yet she knew that Chat was going through it at this very moment. It drove her to move faster, and so she didn't even notice that she was running right into the path of another nightmare until it was too late.

"Got you!" the nightmare shrieked gleefully, pouncing towards her.

"What the -!" Ladybug just barely dodged, whipping her head around in disbelief. It was Chat - or at least, a warped version of him with cat ears but dressed in the Ladybug suit. He grinned at her with gleaming black eyes, sharp fangs, and a forked tongue. He had two black antennae, but a cat tail lashed the air behind him.

"It's Bugaboy!" a woman's voice screamed, and the nightmare laughed with glee and vanished over the side of the building.

Ladybug blinked slowly, staring at the spot where it had gone. "I'm not even going to ask," she said after a few seconds, refusing to waste time wondering why _that_ , of all things, would be someone's worst nightmare.

She turned to keep going but paused.

The hair on the back of her neck prickled.

For the first time, she wasn't totally consumed by what little she could feel of the bond.

 _Someone was watching her_.

The certainty settled deep into Ladybug's bones and she froze, not daring to move another inch, as she realized that this feeling had been plaguing her since she'd left Chat's side. She just hadn’t paid enough attention to notice. And because she knew she hadn't been hit by Sandboy's glitter, there was no reason for a nightmare to be following her.

It was Hawkmoth.

Chat might have lightly mocked her for jumping to such a conclusion, but somehow Ladybug knew she was right. It all came together in a clarifying rush, so fast that she caught her breath. Tikki was right. This was a trap. 

Hawkmoth knew that they were soulmates. If it wasn't blatantly obvious thanks to Dark Cupid and Timebreaker, then Style Queen would have sealed the deal. She'd seen a little bit of the footage floating around online: anyone would've seen the signs of bond shock in Chat Noir that day. Hawkmoth, unfortunately, was not stupid. What if he'd created Sandboy on purpose to destroy their bond again? He was hoping to take advantage of it - take advantage of _them_ when they were both compromised and at their weakest -

And she couldn't go to Master Fu. If she did, if she was right, she'd be leading Hawkmoth right to him and the other miraculous.

Ladybug clenched her hands into fists, torn from indecision. There was a slight chance that she was wrong, and she was just being paranoid because of what was going on, but there was also a decent chance that she wasn't. She wished more than anything that she could've talked to Chat about it to get his opinion. He would've been able to tell her whether her theory made sense or whether she was jumping to conclusions again. 

But she couldn't, so she had to figure it out for herself... and quickly, because she couldn't leave Chat to the mercy of Sandboy for long. Even if he managed to defeat Sandboy, he would need her help to purify the akuma.

So maybe she should take the long way back to the fight.

Ladybug took a deep breath and then kicked off sharply, throwing herself off the side of the building. She hit the ground and launched herself forward, pushing herself to run faster than she'd ever run before. The feeling of eyes on her followed her no matter how far and how fast she ran.

Whoever it was, was keeping up with her easily.

 _Hawkmoth_.

A stitch in her side forced her to stop. Ladybug bent double, panting loudly, bracing her hands on her knees. For whatever reason, it was quiet.

Too quiet.

Like the moment in the woods before the predator attacks.

Something whistled in the air right behind her.

Ladybug spun, twisting sharply.

A cane snapped past her face, mere inches away.

"Hello, Ladybug," Hawkmoth said, so close. _Too_ close.

Her heart started to thud in her ears as she put some distance between them, backing up.

"I assure you," Hawkmoth said, a malicious smile crossing his face. " _I'm_ the real thing."


	21. I swear I’ll take you to the vet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deviating a bit from canon in that Sandboy's powers can make a person experience more than one nightmare.

"I'm going to get you, you mangy cat!"

Chat winced from where he was hiding beside a dumpster, nursing his arm. It wasn't broken, but that was only due to the fact that he was transformed. Otherwise, he would've been black and blue all over by now - and there was still a chance that could happen. He huddled closer to the dumpster at the sound of footsteps approaching his hiding spot and held his breath. There was a long pause during which he became increasingly certain that he was going to be discovered, and then, mercifully, the footsteps moved on. He peeked out just in time to see Ladybug leaving the alley.

Well. It wasn't _really_ Ladybug. Chat had figured that one out pretty quickly after she punched him in the face and pushed him off the roof, which was how he'd hurt his arm. It was a damn good thing that cats always landed on their feet, or he would've been a pancake by now.

No, that was the newly christened Nightmarebug. Too focused on trying to take down Sandboy, he hadn't put two and two together long enough to realize that Sandboy's magical sand was capable of creating more than one nightmare per person. His biggest nightmare might have been losing his bond with Ladybug, but it turned out that a close second was Ladybug deciding that she hated him and wanted him dead. He rubbed his chin ruefully, wishing that he'd figured that out before she got up in his space. It also turned out that she could use a parody of the Lucky Charm to create deadly weapons, so that was great.

"Chat! Where are you?" Nightmarebug snarled, but her voice sounded distant.

He shook his head and, after one last look to make sure she was truly gone, stood up and made his way quickly out of the alley. His mind was racing as he tried to figure out how he was going to deal with Nightmarebug and Sandboy at the same time. Defeating Sandboy would take care of Nightmarebug, but that was going to be easier said than done considering that he had to be careful not to get hit with the glittery sand again. He really didn't want to know what his third nightmare would be.

Hopefully leaving Nightmarebug behind, he started heading east. Sandboy had been heading in that direction when Nightmarebug formed, but Chat had lost track of him pretty quickly. The increasing amount of nightmares rampaging through the streets seemed to indicate he was going the right way, though. He was pretty sure that he even saw Marinette's papa being chased by a ginormous ball of dough as he went. Chat could only shake his head in disbelief: Paris was falling apart.

"There you are!"

Nightmarebug's voice was the only warning he got. Chat dropped instantly and felt something pass immediately over his head. When he looked up, he saw a razor-sharp blade coming at his face and yelped, thrusting himself backwards.

"Stay still," Nightmarebug hissed, her pretty face twisted into a sneer of contempt. "Or I swear I’ll take you to the vet and ask them to put you down like the alley cat that you are."

"I'm no alley cat. I have a home," Chat shot back, quickly scrambling to his feet. His right arm hurt too much, so he awkwardly gripped his baton with his left. 

Nightmarebug snorted. "With who? Me? I don't want you," she said, slowly and meaningfully. "You're _nothing_ to me, Chat Noir. And I'll prove it to you." She spun the scythe with the tips of her fingers, then gripped it and lunged at him.

He ducked and came up behind her, hoping to use his baton to knock her unconscious, but she spun to meet him with Ladybug's typical speed. Chat found himself dodging that sharp blade a second time. This time, it came close enough to shear off a few strands of hair. He managed to slam his baton against the staff and kept her from bringing it down any closer, but he was perilously aware of how strong she was -

And then, from above, came a familiar whizzing sound.

"What the hell!" Nightmarebug screeched in rage as a yoyo wound rapidly around her body and yanked her off her feet. An identical girl clad in the same red, black-spotted hit the ground a moment later.

"We have a problem," Ladybug said grimly.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Chat said, lowering his baton and glancing up at Nightmarebug. She was kicking violently and screaming numerous threats. For a nightmare, she really was quite inventive. He would've been impressed if all her threats didn't involve his death.

"No, not that... although I have to say, I hope I've never looked that ugly." Ladybug shot a contemptuous glance at her counterpart. "I take it that's another nightmare of yours."

"One of many," Chat admitted, and she frowned at him.

"Chat, you know I would never hate you like that, right?" she asked, her gentle voice at complete odds with Nightmarebug.

"I know," Chat said. "But that's the thing about nightmares. They don't always make sense." He couldn't help another look up at Nightmarebug. So long as they were bonded, he _knew_ Ladybug loved him because he could feel the strength of her emotions anytime he wanted to. But at moments like this, when it was like their bond didn't exist and he couldn't feel that? He couldn't help doubting himself a little.

Her face softened and she stepped closer, putting her free hand on his cheek. "I wish I had the time to talk about this, but we don't. Hawkmoth is around."

"What?!" Chat squeaked. "Please tell me you mean a nightmare of Hawkmoth is running around and not the real thing!"

But even as he spoke, he took a closer look at his lady and knew her answer before she responded. Ladybug looked _exhausted_. There was a bruise on her right cheek and her hair ribbons had come a little loose, and he noticed that she was favoring her left side. All signs that she had been fighting recently.

"I'm afraid it's the real thing. He was following me from the moment I left here. Thank god I figured it out before I got to Master Fu's, but that means I couldn't get the Bee miraculous," Ladybug said.

Chat shook his head. "It's fine. What matters is that you're okay." He wished they had Queen Bee's help, but it would've been a disaster if Hawkmoth got his hands on more of the miraculous.

"I am for now because I managed to get away, but I know he's going to come looking for us," Ladybug said. "Now I've been thinking, and I have an idea of how we can use Hawkmoth's power against him. But I'm gonna need your help."

"You need only ask, My Lady," he said, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. He missed the warm pulse of affection she always sent through their bond when he did that, but her sweet smile and blush was almost as good.

"Good. Then let's deal with your nightmare and get a move on, because I'm sure Hawkmoth was right behind me."


	22. Bakery

They didn't have much time to spare. She had managed to give Hawkmoth the slip, but he would know that they were going after Sandboy, so it was only a matter of time until he caught up to them again. So Ladybug kept Nightmarebug wrapped up in her yoyo until Chat found something suitable to tie her up with, and then they left Nightmarebug trussed on a roof, swearing a blue streak, and headed east to find Sandboy floating near the Eiffel Tower. 

As they passed over the bakery, Ladybug spared a thought for her parents. Chat had told her about seeing her papa, but she didn't know where maman was. Hopefully sleeping peacefully through this whole mess, but right now it didn't seem like anyone in Paris was being spared. So her maman was probably somewhere down in the chaos too, along with her papa, Alya, Nino, Chloé, and the rest of their classmates. It made her heart ache to think of all of them facing their fears, and a fresh burst of determination drove her to move just a bit faster.

She and Chat were going to save them all no matter what.

"The Sandboy just checked in! Now nightmares can begin!" Sandboy sang as they neared. His voice had a strangely hypnotic quality when he was singing, Ladybug had noticed. That was most likely what allowed him to get close to his victims in the first place.

"It's time for you to check out!" Chat said, baton ready in his left hand.

Sandboy rotated to face them. "I thought maybe your nightmare had finished you off," he said, smirking at Chat.

"I'm made of stronger stuff than that," Chat said.

"Are you?"

The voice came from right behind them, and Ladybug was ready. She and Chat launched themselves apart just in time for Hawkmoth's cane to slice across the spot where Ladybug had been standing. Chat instantly moved forward and caught Hawkmoth's cane with his baton; Ladybug moved so that they were back-to-back, biting her lip when she felt the increasing strain in Chat's body. Hawkmoth was older and stronger than the both of them, and he knew it.

It had taken just about everything she had to escape him earlier. Hawkmoth had attacked her with a grim sort of determination that proved he wasn't playing around this time. He wanted their miraculous and tonight, he was prepared to do whatever he could to get it.

Ladybug had tried to run, but even that hadn't worked. He'd pursued her, mocking her for running, and was just so damn _fast_. She would have been screwed had it not been for the completely coincidental and fortunate timing of a child and their nightmare. An enormous brown teddy bear had literally stepped onto Hawkmoth. It hadn't been enough to hurt him - the bear was made from lightweight cotton, and she'd heard Hawkmoth swearing as she fled - but it had given her the head start she needed to get back to Chat without Hawkmoth on her heels.

"The Sandboy just checked in! Now nightmares can begin!" Sandboy sang again, directing a vicious smirk towards Ladybug. "Shall we see what _your_ nightmares are made of, Ladybug?"

"I think that's an excellent idea," Hawkmoth said, pushing hard enough against Chat that Chat stumbled. He would've fallen had Ladybug not been right behind him to brace him. She risked a glance over her shoulder, a chill running up her spine when she saw the smirk on Hawkmoth's face.

This was going to be trickier than she'd thought.

If only she could cast her Lucky Charm -

But no. She didn't dare when Hawkmoth was right here. The chance that they could actually defeat him within the five-minute window was too small, and then she'd be defenceless. 

"You know, Ladybug. You could just hand your miraculous over," Hawkmoth said. "I might feel more lenient."

"Yeah right," Chat said. "There's no way that's happening."

"Then I think, Sandboy, that it's time you cooked up a truly _delightful_ nightmare," Hawkmoth said, his smirk widening.

"I don't think so!" 

Ladybug's head snapped up in shock.

"Mirage!"

The cry came from above, accompanied by a ball of orange light. Suddenly the area was flooded with multiple Ladybug's and Chat Noir's. Ladybug stared at them in astonishment, too shocked to move until Chat jerked her arm hard enough to almost take her off her feet. She stumbled but went with him, belatedly realizing that he was yanking them towards -

Towards Queen Bee.

And two other miraculous holders.

"How?!" Ladybug exclaimed as she reached Queen Bee. Behind them, Hawkmoth gave a shout of rage. When she glanced back at him, he was charging around slashing at the copies with his cane.

"The guardian found me," Queen Bee said. "He said you needed help, and then he gave me the Fox and the Turtle to recruit even more help." She turned towards the other two, and Ladybug looked at them in renewed shock. Of course, thanks to the magic she didn't recognize either one of them even if she did know them as civilians. Just who had Chloé called upon?

"I'm glad you're here," Chat said roughly, gripping Queen Bee's arm. Ladybug didn't need their faded bond to know that he was so grateful to see Queen Bee that he could have cried. 

"We're ready to help!" the fox-suited heroine said.

Ladybug cast her a critical look, eyeing the Fox miraculous. "You'll need to re-energize first."

"Ah, right," the girl said. "I'm Rena Rouge, and I'll be right back."

"Be careful!" Ladybug called after her, but she was already gone.

"It's okay. Queen Bee already scouted out a safe place for her to go. I'm Carapace, by the way," the guy said. "What's the plan?"

"Erm," Ladybug said, her mind working furiously. She was less familiar with the Turtle miraculous than the Bee and the Fox, but she knew that it could create a barrier. What if -? But then Carapace would have to detransform too, and it was bad enough that Rena Rouge had to...

"It's Alya and Nino," Queen Bee whispered in her ear, so close that her lips were practically touching Ladybug's miraculous.

Ladybug turned her head slightly. "Are you serious?"

"Who else would you trust? What, did you want me to recruit Lila again?" Queen Bee said.

"I'd have murdered you on the spot," Ladybug muttered. Down below, Hawkmoth let out a bellow of rage as all of the copies of Ladybug and Chat Noir faded away – Rena Rouge must have detransformed. He stopped slashing at them, panting for breath. Suddenly, his eyes darted up towards them, suddenly realizing where they were. 

"Quickly," Queen Bee hissed.

"Okay," Ladybug said. "Here's what we're going to do. We need to get Sandboy to activate Hawkmoth's nightmare, and here's how we're going to do." In span of a few seconds she explained her plan. 

Chat and Queen Bee immediately nodded and left to intercept Hawkmoth. Ladybug turned to Carapace.

"I get it," he said before she could speak. "We're new, so you don't want us to engage. Makes sense. Rena Rouge and I will stay up here and only help if needed."

Ladybug smiled at him, grateful for Nino's cool head. "Thank you."

He pretended to tip his hat to her, grinning. "Anytime, believe me. This is the coolest thing _ever_."

She begged to differ, but there was no time to argue. Instead, she jumped down to help Chat and Queen Bee.

And her plan actually _worked_.

Against three of them, even with Sandboy, Hawkmoth was outnumbered.

They slowly herded him back.

Queen Bee threw out her top at just the right moment -

Hawkmoth tripped and fell back into the shower of Sandboy's glitter -

"Yes!" Chat shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

But just as quickly, his smile fell. A horrified look crossed his face. Queen Bee gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. Ladybug just stared in silent, stunned disbelief.

The ghost of Émilie Agreste stared down at Hawkmoth and said, "Gabriel, what have you done?"


	23. Cat in the night

For a long moment, there was silence. 

Then Hawkmoth sank slowly to his knees, staring at the nightmare before him with wide eyes. He breathed out, "Émilie."

And in that one word, Chat Noir knew that it was the truth.

His father was Hawkmoth.

"Why?" Émilie asked. In the darkness of the night, her form was faded around the edges. But even that couldn't hide the anger on her pretty face. "How _could_ you? You failed me, Gabriel! All of this, and for what? You couldn't even bring me back!"

"I'm trying!" Hawkmoth said, reaching out to her. But of course, his hand went right through her.

Because she was a ghost.

Because his mother was still dead.

Chat shuddered, taking a step back, and felt two hands slip into both of his. He didn't need to look to know Ladybug was on one side of him and Queen Bee was on the other, both girls bracketing him. Keeping from being nothing more than a lonely, lost cat in the night.

Still, he couldn't look away.

"You're trying," Émilie said in a disgusted tone that Chat had never heard her use before. "That's pathetic."

"Émilie!" Hawkmoth said.

Émilie shook her head, planting one hand on her hip. "If you really loved me, you would have figured out how to fix things before now. Instead you've been fumbling around doing all of this." She thrust out her free hand to indicate Sandboy. "You've failed me. You've failed me as a husband and as the father of our son."

"No!" Hawkmoth cried, leaning forward. The nightmare took a step back, this time not allowing him to reach for her.

"I hate you!" she hissed, her expression so cold that Chat jolted.

That was not his mother.

The realization sank deep into his bones, shattering the small bit of hope that had formed in his heart. His mother would never have looked at someone like _that_.

But that _was_ his father.

His father the super villain.

His father the would-be thief of the miraculous.

Chat had thought to himself, once before, that Gabriel Agreste would have done anything to get his wife back. He didn't know why he hadn't put two and two together before, because it seemed blatantly obvious now that he was saying it play out in real time right in front of him. _Of course_ Gabriel was Hawkmoth. Émilie was the only thing that his father had ever really loved.

"Now's our chance," he whispered numbly, and didn't need to look to know that Queen Bee and Ladybug were exchanging a loaded glance behind his back.

"Stay here," Ladybug said, squeezing his hand. Then she moved forward, her yoyo smoothly shooting out and winding rapidly around Hawkmoth's body. Hawkmoth jerked in surprise, but before he could even think about trying to get free Queen Bee was already there.

"Venom!" she cried, thrusting the point of her top into Hawkmoth's shoulder.

But Chat found himself unable to stand still - unable to keep looking at that ghostly visage of his dear mother, who stared so angrily at Hawkmoth -

(Because what if his mother really would've hated his father? Or worse, what if she would've _supported_ him?)

\- and instead he turned away, towards Sandboy.

The little akuma looked completely lost by this turn of events, probably because Hawkmoth was no longer a guiding voice in its ear. So it was hovering uncertainly several feet away. When it caught sight of Chat, it jerked and started to fly away.

"Shellter!" Carapace called out, and a glowing green shield formed over them to keep Sandboy from leaving.

"Cataclysm," Chat whispered. He kicked off a building to get the momentum needed to jump high enough and brush his hand across the bottom of Sandboy's pillow. It dissolved instantly, and Chat caught Sandboy as they fell towards the ground. The akuma fluttered free of the pillow.

Ladybug's yoyo snapped past them and effortlessly captured the akuma; by the time Chat hit the ground, he was holding a crying child to his chest as opposed to an akuma. 

His heart felt heavy in his chest as he stared at the street. He was sure that the nightmare version of Émilie Agreste was gone - it had to be gone, because Sandboy no longer existed - but he still didn't want to look to see just in case.

"Um," a soft voice said, and he looked up at Rena Rouge.

"I can take him," Rena Rouge said uncertainly, arms outstretched. "Carapace and I can take him back to his parents."

"Okay," Chat said numbly, passing the child over. He probably should have asked about their miraculous, since they'd have to get the Fox and Turtle back, but that was too much thought. He sank to the ground and squeezed his eyes shut.

The bond slammed back into him a moment later as Ladybug cast her cure, with enough force that he might have fallen had he not been sitting already. The pain in his arm subsided instantly. He wished he could say the same thing for the pain in his chest.

‘Oh _Chaton_ ,’ Ladybug thought, love and affection and fear and worry flooding across the bond until he was drowning in it all.

But it was good. Too good. Hot tears rushed to his eyes.

Ladybug was beside him a second later, wrapping him up in a hug. He buried his face in her chest, trembling.

“What do we do with him?” Queen Bee asked. She sounded strained, probably because she was fighting the urge to beat Hawkmoth into the ground, knowing Chloé.

“We’re going to have to call the police,” Ladybug said. “Um – could you do it?”

“No,” Chat mumbled, forcing himself to let go. He wiped a hand across his face.

‘Chat,’ Ladybug thought, radiating worry.

‘You can’t leave Queen Bee to do that alone. It’s not fair,’ Chat thought, not looking at either Queen Bee or his – no, not his father. At Hawkmoth.

Ladybug bit her lip. ‘She would if we needed her to.’

‘I know she would, but you should be here too,’ Chat thought. ‘The police will believe you better.’

Her frustration intensified. ‘I want to stay with you.’

Chat had no cohesive thoughts for that, but he knew that she knew how badly he wanted that too.

But they were heroes, so sometimes they didn’t get what they wanted.

She helped him to stand, and by the time they were both on their feet Chat knew what he had to do. It would be best for everyone if Adrien Agreste was safely in bed when the news broke that Gabriel Agreste had been arrested. If anyone noticed he’d been missing, it wouldn’t look good.

So he made himself leave, trusting that Ladybug and Queen Bee would handle everything. He could hear everything that was going on and see it too if he wanted to. By the time he made it back to the mansion, Ladybug had secured the Butterfly miraculous and Queen Bee had called the police. The distant sound of sirens made Chat shudder as he slithered through his bedroom window.

“Claws in,” he whispered.

Plagg appeared in a flash of green light. “That took forever! I’m – Kid, what’s wrong?” His smile faded quickly as he took in Adrien’s appearance.

“We unmasked Hawkmoth,” Adrien said, the words tasting awful. “My father…”

“No,” Plagg whispered, horrified. “Shit. _Shit_. Adrien, I’m so sorry.”

Adrien just nodded, crossing the darkened room to his bed. He drew back the covers and climbed under without undressing, pulling the blankets over his head to hide.

‘I love you,’ Ladybug thought helplessly as, through her eyes, Adrien watched as Gabriel Agreste was arrested.


	24. Banana split

Rather than go to Adrien's side like she wanted to, Ladybug had to return home. It would look too weird for her to be found in Adrien’s bedroom this early; even if they could’ve made an excuse about the akuma driving her to be there, neither one of them needed the additional scrutiny that would create.

She crawled in through the window above her bed and just sat there for a moment, taking deep breaths. Adrien's pain and shock and grief bubbled away in the back of her mind like a pot that was about to boil over; it was only a matter of time before the police approached the mansion to tell him about Gabriel, and he was dreading that moment. Not that Ladybug blamed him. 

'The whole town is going to hate me,' Adrien thought dully.

'No, they won't. You are not responsible for what he did,' Ladybug thought back. She couldn't be sure how people in general would respond, of course, but she knew for certain that her family, their friends, and their classmates would all be behind Adrien. Anyone who knew him would be. 

'Maybe... I just don't know how I didn't see it before,' he thought.

Ladybug rubbed her forehead, sighing. 'You don't spend much time with him,' she thought. 'I mean, you literally go whole weeks where you don't even see him, and he passes all of his messages through Nathalie. Don't you think he probably did that on purpose to keep you from figuring out that something wasn't right?' She pushed as much love and affection through the bond as she could in an effort to comfort him, relieved that their bond was as strong as ever.

'That might have been part of it, but honestly I just don't think he cared about me. It was always about my mother,' Adrien thought, his emotions wrought with pain, and Ladybug let her head sink into her hands because he was _right_ , damn it all.

"Tikki, spots off," she whispered, knowing that it wasn't safe to sit here forever when she was transformed. If her maman or papa walked in on her like this, she was screwed.

"What happened?" Tikki said, the moment she got a good look at Marinette's face.

Marinette mentally reached out to comfort her partner even as she replied, "We unmasked Hawkmoth tonight. He's Gabriel Agreste."

"What?" Tikki gasped, shocked.

"Marinette!"

Tikki eeped and darted into Marinette's top as the trap door swung open. Sabine poked her head up, looking relieved when she saw Marinette sitting on her bed.

"Thank goodness you're okay. The city has been in an uproar because of that akuma," she said. "Your school has been canceled today."

"Oh, okay," Marinette said, a little relieved. Neither she nor Adrien were fit for school right now, and she couldn't imagine going in without him.

"Could you come help in the bakery for a bit? Your papa wants my help with some new banana split macarons he's trying to create," Sabine continued.

"Sure," Marinette said. When Sabine just stood there, looking at her expectantly, Marinette sighed and clambered down off her bed. She got dressed behind her closet doors, hauling on jeans and a t-shirt, and then followed her maman downstairs to the bakery.

'The police are here,' Adrien thought.

Her heart turned over. 'I wish I could be there for you.'

'I wish you could too,' he thought back, flinching as a knock came at his door.

Marinette served customers with an empty smile, far more focused on the drama that was her soulmate's life at the moment. Occasionally, when she got a break between customers, she took a quick peek through Adrien's eyes. Nathalie's expression was completely blank as she and Adrien listened to Sergeant Raincomprix awkwardly explain that Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth. Adrien did a great job at pretending that the news was brand new information, gasping in all the right places and even going so far as to ask whether or not the police were sure.

That was why Chloé got all the way up to the counter before Marinette even realized she was there. Only when fingers snapped under her nose did Marinette come to.

"Seriously, it's baffling that no one has figured you two out yet," Chloé said dryly, leaning against the counter.

"Can I help you?" Marinette said wearily, far too tired for this.

Chloé's playful expression smoothed out. "How's Adrien?" she asked, very quiet.

Marinette glanced around, but the shop was mercifully empty. Nevertheless, she lowered her voice. "Not great. The police are there. It sounds like they're going to search the house soon."

"I figured that would happen. I'd go there next, but..." Chloé hesitated. "I didn't know whether my presence would help or not."

Chloé really was growing up, Marinette reflected. They all were. She sighed and said, "Right now, too many people wouldn't be a good thing. But later..."

"Okay," Chloé said with a nod. "Here. I went and retrieved them before I came here." She held out a hand and dropped the Fox, Turtle, and Bee miraculous into Marinette's outstretched hand.

Marinette stared at the three miraculous for a moment, conscious of the weight of the Butterfly miraculous: it was safely tucked in her pocket.

Adrien was a quiet presence in the back of her mind, waiting to see what she'd do while the police and Nathalie spoke.

Then Marinette picked up the Bee miraculous and gave it back.

Chloé's astonished expression was priceless.

"You keep that," Marinette said. "The guardian gave it to you, right?"

"Well, he said I'd have to give it back to you..." Chloé said.

Marinette shrugged. "I don't want it. He's getting the Butterfly back instead. That's fair, right?"

"Sure," Chloé said slowly, looking like she half-expected Marinette to change her mind and grab the Bee miraculous back. Just in case, she closed her hand around it quickly and slid it back into her pocket. That, more than anything, told Marinette she'd made the right choice. Chloé had enough awareness to not put on the Bee miraculous in public and risk someone walking in and seeing Pollen materialize. That wasn't something that everyone would have thought of.

'Thank you, My Lady,' Adrien thought, and his gratitude was almost enough to make Marinette tear up.

"I also have this," Chloé said. "Alya gave it to me when I went to get the Fox. She said it was posted on the Ladyblog when she got home this morning and asked me to give it to Ladybug or Chat Noir."

Curious, Marinette opened it up. Adrien peered through her eyes and they read together:

_Ladybug and Chat Noir, I have something of interest to the two of you. If you want it back, you'll have to meet me. I want something very specific in exchange. Signed, Lynx._

'Well shit,' Adrien thought.

Marinette echoed his sentiments out loud as she showed the note to Chloé.

"Lynx, huh," Chloé said. "No idea who it is?"

"We thought maybe Nino for a little while," Marinette said, staring hard at the neatly typed note. "But where Lila turned out to be Coccinelle, that seems unlikely. Master Fu said that Coccinelle and Lynx didn't know each other in their civilian forms... though honestly, he handed out the miraculous in such a rush that it wouldn't surprise me if he made a mistake and they did." She wished that Lynx had given them a bit more detail. What exactly did he want? What did he have that would interest them?

'Maybe he wants the Black Cat miraculous back,' Adrien thought.

"No way," Marinette said instantly.

Chloé raised an eyebrow. "No way what?"

"Adrien said that maybe Lynx wants the Black Cat back," Marinette told her.

"Hmm," Chloé murmured, drumming her fingers on the counter. "Say, couldn't Plagg tell you who Lynx is?"

"He wouldn't tell Adrien before. They're supposed to be sworn to secrecy," Marinette said thoughtfully. "But Coccinelle turned out to be such a disaster, and now this..."

'I'll ask him again,' Adrien thought, and Marinette and Chloé waited patiently as he made an excuse to the police and escaped to the bathroom. When he was alone, and Marinette was peeking through his eyes and listening as hard as she could, Adrien asked Plagg again for Lynx's identity.

And this time, Plagg answered.

He couldn't give a name, but he didn't need to.

The sentence "Lynx is your cousin" was clear enough.


	25. Senti-monster

"I still can't believe you didn't tell me," Adrien said.

Plagg groaned, so long and so loud that Adrien winced - if anyone had been walking by his room right then, they definitely would have overheard _that_ \- before looking up at Adrien with a glare. In an exasperated tone, Plagg said, "Kid, for cheese's sake, you've said that at least a hundred times over the past two days. I _told_ you, it's against the rules to talk about our previous chosen. Besides, I didn't think it would matter!"

"He's my cousin," Adrien pointed out. “How could that not matter?!”

"Your cousin who lives in London," Plagg countered, little tail lashing the air in annoyance. "You said it yourself, it's been forever since you him _or_ your aunt. And even if he did meet up with you while he was in town, what difference did it make? If he’d kept the miraculous, it just would've given me the chance to sneak off and see you one last time."

Adrien paused at that, momentarily stymied.

'Aww,' Marinette thought. 'That's so sweet!'

"But he didn’t keep it, and then we got all tangled up in the Coccinelle thing anyway," Plagg continued. "Lynx's identity didn't seem to matter at that point."

'He has a point,' Marinette thought.

'Whose side are you on?' Adrien thought back.

She giggled, her amusement soft and warm. 'Always yours, _Chaton_.'

Adrien wasn't wholly convinced, but he could tell when he wasn't going to win. He sighed. "Okay, I get it. I guess I'm just nervous." He wiped his hands on his jeans, gaze straying towards the window. It had been a very hectic couple of days.

Gabriel was sitting in jail right now, awaiting court. It remained to be seen whether he'd be released on bail - it didn't look likely, according to Nathalie, and Adrien supposed he understood why: Gabriel was the definition of a flight risk. Adrien very much doubted that he alone would be enough to make his father stick around.

Not to mention, once word had got out that Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth, people had _not_ been happy. Adrien had remained at home from school for the past couple of days, and he had stayed offline, so he'd missed the majority of the vitriol. But as always, he was exposed to what Marinette saw and heard. Most people didn't blame him, but everyone was angry with his father – with Hawkmoth.

The police had done a thorough search of the house and found the body of Émilie Agreste hidden away, proving that the grave Adrien visited every so often was empty. Amélie had been utterly furious and was in the process of planning a second funeral for her sister. Adrien didn't really know how to feel about that, but it was enough to make him realize that Gabriel wasn't right in the head.

'He's sick, Adrien,' Marinette thought, sobering quickly as she realized the direction his thoughts had taken. 'There's something wrong with him.'

'Yeah, I know,' Adrien thought. Bond shock, maybe. Or maybe not. Maybe Gabriel really was just that much of an asshole, that he thought he could rewrite the laws of the universe without answering to anyone for his misdeeds. As Adrien's shock over the whole situation slowly faded away, anger and a hot sense of betrayal were seeping in.

'It's time,' Marinette thought gently.

"Right. Plagg, let's go," Adrien said, standing up.

"I better not wake up to find my miraculous on someone else's finger," Plagg warned. "Félix might look like you, but he's not you."

Adrien smiled. "Don't worry. No one is ever taking you away from me again," he promised. "Plagg, claws out!"

He leaped out the window and headed for the Eiffel Tower; Ladybug was already waiting there for him. No sooner had Chat landed and they smiled at each other then Félix emerged from the shadows between two shops. It was late enough that there was no one else around, and Chat belatedly wondered how Félix had gotten out of his room without Amélie knowing.

'I'm sure he has his ways, just like he we do,' Ladybug thought.

'Yeah, well, he's never getting our way back,' Chat thought as Félix stopped right in front of them.

Ladybug cleared her throat. "Bonsoir. Lynx, I take it."

Félix inclined his head. "My civilian name is Félix," he said. Never one to beat around the bush, he added bluntly, "I have something I know you'll want, but you’re only getting it if you'll give me something in return."

"Well, that depends on what you have," Chat said.

"This," Félix said, opening his hand.

"Oh my god," Ladybug said, stunned.

Chat couldn't believe it. "Is that the Peacock miraculous?! How did you get that?"

"I stole it," Félix said, largely unconcerned by their reactions. His eyes flicked between them and then he shrugged. "I suppose I might as well tell you, since you already know my other bargaining chip. My uncle is Hawkmoth. I had the chance to be alone in his study a few days ago and discovered that he had a safe. When I broke into it, I found this and a book. The book looked _quite_ interesting, but unfortunately I couldn't figure out a way to remove it from the room without my uncle noticing. A broach, on the other hand, is much more easily hidden. Imagine my surprise when a kwami came out of it when I tried it on."

'That makes sense,' Chat thought dazedly, running an experienced eye over Félix's clothes. Unlike Adrien, who really didn't have much personal interest in fashion, Félix always dressed to impress. His clothing was impeccably tailored and fit him live a glove, and it would have been hard for him to hide a book.

'What book do you think he means?' Ladybug thought.

'I have no idea. I didn't even know my father had a safe until like a week ago, but I guess that solves the mystery of who stole something out of it,' Chat thought back. 'He never even suspected Félix; he thought it was my aunt.'

"And what do you want in return?" Ladybug asked out loud, narrowing her eyes slightly.

Chat clenched his hands into fists.

But Félix didn't even glance at the Black Cat miraculous. He said, "I want their wedding rings. My uncle’s and aunt's wedding rings."

"You - why?" Chat said, baffled.

Félix met his gaze with a cool look. "I don't have to explain my reasoning to you. That's what I want. If you can get Adrien Agreste to agree to give those to me, then I will give him this in return. If you can't, I'm taking it back to London with me."

"We could just take it from you right now," Ladybug pointed out.

"I could also put this on and transform," Félix shot back. "I've had a few fascinating conversations with Duusu."

Ladybug stared at him for a few seconds, silently measuring, before she thought, 'What do you think?'

'I think we should do it. I don't want to deal with senti-monsters on top of everything else, and I really don't care about their wedding rings,' Chat thought. If he had his way, he probably would've chucked the rings into the Seine just because he knew it would infuriate his father. Besides that, he knew Félix was completely capable of following through on his implied threat.

"Alright, you have a deal," Ladybug said. "I'll speak to Adrien tomorrow. I'm sure that I can make him see reason."

"Maybe," Félix said. "He's pretty attached to his parents." He somehow managed to make it sound like that was a bad thing.

Then again, considering just who Adrien's parents were, maybe it was.

"I have to ask. You don't care about the Black Cat miraculous?" Chat said.

Félix snorted. "I am hardly hero material. It's far too much... _work_." He cast a disdainful look between the two of them. 

"Right," Ladybug said slowly. "So - Adrien will give you the wedding rings, and you'll give him the miraculous. Deal?" 

She offered her hand. After a slight pause, Félix moved close enough to take her hand and they shook on it. 

"Deal," Félix said. "A pleasure doing business with you, Ladybug." He released her hand and turned on his heel, walking away.


	26. I’m more of a dog person

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am, thankfully, back on track with the prompts from here on out!

Marinette looked around the room that had once doubled as both Gabriel's study and his home office with a skeptical eye. It was a pretty big room, with a desk at one end of the room and several bookshelves lined with a ton of books on either side of the desk. Somehow, she didn't think any of those books were the ones that Félix had been referring to. A huge floor-to-ceiling window behind the desk allowed for plenty of sunlight, and illuminated the large painting that was directly opposite the desk: a painting of the late Émilie Agreste.

"Are you sure the police didn't find your dad's safe first, Adrien?" Tikki asked, emerging from Marinette's purse. Plagg popped out of Adrien's pocket as Adrien shook his head.

"I didn't even think to mention it to them, and I know that Nathalie wouldn't have said anything. No one else knew about it," he said, scanning the room. "I don't even know where it is."

"It can't be somewhere obvious, or the police would've found it," Marinette said, tapping her chin. "Too bad you're not the dog kwami, Plagg. You could sniff it out."

Plagg looked mortally offended. "Excuse me? Cats are way better than dogs!"

"I don't know. I'm really more of a dog person," Marinette murmured, winking at Adrien. He stifled a laugh as he turned to examine the bookcase in more detail. 

"Dogs _suck_. I wouldn't lick your face like Barkk does," Plagg said indignantly. 

"You would if she smelled like cheese," Tikki muttered, flying towards the portrait.

"I hate all of you," Plagg said, sulking, and Marinette finally giggled.

"Aw, Plagg, you know you're my favorite black cat kwami. I wouldn’t change you for the world," she cooed, reaching out and scratching Plagg under his chin. After weeks of practice, she knew just where he liked it best and within seconds Plagg was putty in her hands.

"I might need some cheese to forgive you," he said in between deep purrs.

"I'll get you some of my papa's cheese scones," Marinette promised, tickling his belly.

"I found it!" Tikki cried, and three heads snapped around to look at her as Tikki phased through the painting on the well.

"Of course," Adrien said, dashing over to the wall. He slipped his fingers beneath the painting and gently pulled. It swung forward easily to reveal a safe. Marinette immediately noticed that the safe required a PIN to be opened.

'Any chance you know the PIN?' she thought.

'Umm... my mother's birthday? The day they were married? Maybe my father’s birthday?' Adrien thought, eyebrows furrowing. 'It's definitely not _my_ birthday. I don't even think my father knows when that is.'

Marinette winced and stepped over to take his hand. "Tikki, Plagg, could one of you open this?"

"I'll do it," Tikki said, disappearing back into the safe. There was a split second pause and then the light on the front flickered green. Marinette grabbed the handle and pulled the safe open. 

"Well, that has to be the book Félix was talking about," Adrien said, staring at the only thing still inside the safe. 

"Oh my goodness," Tikki gasped. "Plagg, it's the spell book!"

"What, really?" Plagg said, flying closer.

"What's the spell book?" Marinette said.

"It's linked to the miraculous. Master Fu has been searching for this book for as long as he's been looking for the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous," Tikki breathed. "I can't believe Hawkmoth had it all this time!"

'Okay, now Master Fu really can't say anything about Chloé keeping the Bee miraculous if we're giving him back three things in return,' Marinette thought, carefully picking up the book. It was old and dusty, suggesting that Gabriel hadn't touched it in a long time. She opened it up and flipped through to see what so special, only to find that it was written in a language she didn't understand. 

"Can you read this?" Adrien asked Tikki and Plagg as Marinette stopped on a page depicting another Ladybug miraculous user. The costume differences were really interesting.

Tikki shook her head. "Oh no. Kwami must never be taught how to read this book just in case we fall into the wrong hands. Hawkmoth could have destroyed the world with the secrets in here; if Nooroo or Duusu knew how to read it, they would have been bound to help Hawkmoth if he ordered them to."

Marinette and Adrien exchanged a frown.

'What a crappy system,' Adrien thought.

"I guess we better get this back to Master Fu sooner rather than later," Marinette said out loud, sliding the book into her bookbag. “We just need the Peacock miraculous.”

"Yup, I've got the rings right here," Adrien said, patting his pocket. Getting them had been surprisingly easy. The police, after determining that Gabriel's clothing and personal possessions held nothing of interest, had readily given up those affects to Adrien when he asked after them. Gabriel's wedding ring had been one of those items. Getting Émilie's ring had been a little harder; in the end, he'd had to ask Nathalie to follow up with the funeral home. Nathalie was nothing if not efficient, and she had presented Adrien with the second ring last night just a day after he'd asked for it.

"I hear someone," Tikki whispered, diving towards Marinette's purse. Plagg scrambled after her. Both kwamis hid just in time, as Félix came into the room a moment later.

"Found the safe, I see," he said idly. "I suppose Ladybug and Chat Noir told you about it."

"Ladybug told me," Adrien said. "You, uh, have something they want?"

"Do _you_ have what _I_ want?" Félix asked, gaze sharpening. Marinette quickly closed the safe and swung the painting shut over it.

Adrien reached into his pocket and took out the rings, holding them in palm to show them off. "Why do you want them?"

For a moment, Marinette was sure that Félix wouldn't answer. His expression turned hard, not unlike his uncle's, and she could feel that Adrien regretted asking.

But then Félix said, "Those are Graham de Vanily heirlooms, and so they're very important to my mother. She asked for them back after your mother's death, but your father refused to part with them. I want to give them back to her."

That sounded very sweet - yet Marinette was certain that wasn't the whole answer.

'I don't think it is either,' Adrien thought. 'But knowing Félix, we'll never get the whole answer.'

'Probably not,' she thought back.

"Well, they're not very important to me. So they might as well be with someone who wants them," Adrien said. "Do you have the, um, miraculous?"

Félix took the Peacock miraculous out of his pocket and held it out. Marinette watched carefully as he and Adrien swapped items, then glanced down at her purse. Tikki gave her the tiniest of nods to let her know that Félix had indeed given them the real deal.

"It must be very boring, being such a good person," Félix observed, putting the rings in his pocket. "You've lost your parent's wedding rings but gained nothing in return."

"I got to help Ladybug and Chat Noir, the heroes of the city," Adrien said, closing his fingers around the Peacock miraculous.

"You want to help them, even after they exposed your father?" Félix wanted to know.

"Hawkmoth was hurting people. He deserved to be stopped," Adrien said, more sharply than he intended.

Félix watched him for a moment before shrugging. "I suppose none of this will matter when you're in London anyway."

"What?" Marinette said, stiffening.

"London?" Adrien said at the same time.

"Well, we're not moving here," Félix said, as though that was obvious.

"Well I'm not moving to London," Adrien said, astonishment flowing through their bond at the very idea. He couldn't move. His friends were in Paris. His school, his work, his father's company - he couldn't be Chat Noir in London! 

And Marinette.

 _Marinette_.

The realization hit them both at the same time, and they shared another look.

"Thanks a lot, Félix," Adrien said, taking Marinette's arm. They walked around Félix and left; the feel of Félix's eyes remained on them until the door had closed.

'I think we need to have a talk with my parents,' Marinette thought as they headed down the steps.

Adrien's grip was a shade too tight on her arm. 'I can't go, Mari. I _can't_.'

'I know. It's okay. It'll be fine,' Marinette thought with as much comfort as she could, and hoped for both their sake's that she wasn't wrong.


	27. Just because

First things first.

Adrien reached for Marinette's hand as they neared Master Fu's shop. She intertwined their fingers, shooting him a small smile. He let himself smile back, though it faded as they came to a stop in front of the shop. 

‘Are you ready for this?’ he thought.

Marinette exhaled and nodded. ‘As ready as I’m ever going to be,’ she thought, exchanging a determined look with him. They nodded at each other and then Marinette reached out and pushed the door open. A couple of customers filed out, and then the two of them stepped inside. Master Fu was still busy with another customer, so they stood to the side until Master Fu had finished, the customer had left, and the shop was otherwise empty.

"Well, I'm guessing that congratulations are in order," Master Fu said, moving to the door. He turned the sign to 'closed' and locked the door before turning to smile at them.

"We defeated Hawkmoth," Marinette said with a nod and a squeeze of Adrien's hand.

"So I've read. Adrien, I must extend my apologies. I genuinely had no idea that it was your father," said Master Fu.

"It's fine. I think that was the whole point," Adrien said quietly. He didn't blame Master Fu for not knowing when Adrien had lived in the same house as Hawkmoth for the past several months without even knowing. And he didn't blame what Hawkmoth had done on anyone but Hawkmoth. No one had forced Gabriel Agreste to don the Butterfly Miraculous and send out akumas.

"Still. I'm sorry. This couldn't have been easy on you," Master Fu said, appearing genuinely contrite.

Adrien just shrugged.

"Could we go in the back and talk?" Marinette asked, squeezing his hand again.

"Of course."

'Are you okay?' Marinette thought as they followed Master Fu into the back.

'I'll feel better once we're done here. Honestly, I'm not sure if I'll ever really feel comfortable here,' Adrien thought. Every time they came here, he was reminded of the fact that Master Fu had wanted _just_ Marinette as the next guardian. They were a package deal, but he suspected that Master Fu would never really be pleased by that and so it was hard to shake the feelings of inadequacy.

'We'll be fast,' Marinette thought, bringing their joined hands up so that she could press a kiss to the back of his. ‘And when we’re done, we’ll find André and get some ice cream. Just the two of us, just because.’

‘Okay,’ Adrien thought, looking forward to it already.

"Tea?" Master Fu asked, and they both looked over at him.

"No thank you," Marinette said politely, kneeling down at the table. Adrien joined her, and, after a moment's pause, so did Master Fu. Marinette reached into her bag and took out the Butterfly miraculous, setting it on the table.

Master Fu looked at it for a few seconds before sighing. "This is a great weight off my shoulders," he said quietly. "The Butterfly miraculous can be used for good, but it also has great capacity for evil. Of all the miraculous, I often think that this is the one most prone to being used for nefarious purposes. So I'm very grateful to both of you for bringing it back where it belongs."

"You’re welcome, but there’s something else that we want to talk about," Marinette said. "We're keeping our miraculous, of course, but I want Chloé to keep hers too."

"That's not -" Master Fu began, but Marinette held up a hand.

"Before you say anything, I'd like to remind you that you said you weren't comfortable giving out more miraculous because four of them, not including your own, were already in use. That's no longer the case."

"Also, you must trust Chloé to some extent if you not only gave her the bee miraculous, but also the Fox and Turtle," Adrien added.

A slight frown tugged at Master Fu's face. "I could tell that Sandboy was going to be a very difficult akuma, though of course I had no idea _how_ difficult. When the two of you failed to defeat the akuma within the span of an hour, I realized that something was wrong. You seemed to trust Mlle Bourgeois, and my last pick of miraculous holders wasn't exactly ideal..."

'That's an understatement,' Adrien thought, somehow managing to bite his tongue to keep from saying it out loud. Félix hadn't proven to be too terrible, though he had said it himself: he was not hero material. But Lila was an absolute disaster. It really proved that Master Fu hadn't done his research on either of them.

"I have to ask. Why Félix?" Marinette asked, cocking her head. "You must have known he was related to Adrien."

"I did. The familial resemblance was obvious. But I had hoped that the heart of a hero would run in your family." Master Fu's frown deepened. "I was desperate, I have to admit. I apologize again for the grief I've caused you both for that choice."

"Lynx wasn't too terrible. Coccinelle was..." Marinette trailed off.

"Awful," Adrien said flatly. It was a good thing they had asked Plagg and Tikki to remain quiet during their visit, or Plagg would have undoubtedly chimed in with a much stronger word.

"Anyway," Marinette said, shaking her head. "To get back on topic, Adrien is right. You don't know Chloé, but you at least trust in our judgement if you gave the Bee miraculous back to her." She indicated herself and Adrien with a wave of her free hand. 

"I do, but I'm not sure about giving her a miraculous to keep. Sandboy was an anomaly," Master Fu said slowly. 

"Chloé is a good person. She's kept every secret that Marinette and I have told her," Adrien said. "You're right when you said the heart of a hero runs in my family. Chloé _is_ my family; she's my sister. If you can trust me, you can trust her."

'I think even Chloé would cry if she heard that,' Marinette thought, giving him a soft smile before turning back to Master Fu.

"I know that you didn't choose Chloé, and that you don't know her well. But again, Adrien is right. Chloé has the capacity to be an excellent hero. She's helped us out a couple of times and it would be really useful to be able to rely on her help whenever we might need it in the future. Having to come here every time for help is dangerous. I had to leave Chat alone to face Sandboy, and then in the end I couldn't even make it here because of Hawkmoth. But if there were three of us, then two of us could have stayed to fight the akuma while the third came to find you."

Master Fu stroked his chin. "You realize, of course, that now that Hawkmoth is gone, technically Ladybug and Chat Noir are no longer necessary, never mind Queen Bee."

"I have the feeling that we are," Adrien said quietly. "And you know that."

"I think so too," said Marinette. "Plus, when you gave Chloé the Fox and Turtle, she chose the very same people that I would have chosen myself. Even though she isn't friends with them and doesn't know them that well, she still went right to them. I trust Chloé." She leaned forward, eyes bright. "So trust me, Master."

"I want to, but..." Master Fu sighed heavily. "I don't doubt Mlle Bourgeois’ character. I was concerned at first that she would take advantage of what she knew, or that she would spread your secrets, but that hasn't been the case. My fear is that there is still one more miraculous that isn't accounted for."

Adrien and Marinette exchanged a look, grinning.

Master Fu looked between them at that, eyes narrowed. 

"Well, actually..." Adrien said.

"About that," Marinette said, giggling, and let go of Adrien's hand to pull the spell book and Peacock miraculous out of her bag.

Adrien hadn't thought he'd see the day where Master Fu looked genuinely shocked, but there it was.

"What - but - how?!" Master Fu sputtered.

"My father had them," Adrien explained as Marinette gently set the items down on the table. They had decided to omit Félix's part in getting the Peacock miraculous back: Master Fu didn't need to know that the Peacock miraculous had fallen into someone else's hands, however temporarily.

"Now that all the miraculous are accounted for, not to mention the spell book, let me say this again," Marinette said, looking Master Fu straight in the face. "Chloé is keeping the Bee miraculous. We are not asking you. We're _telling_ you."


	28. Purrs

Marinette had never spoken so sternly to an adult in her life. Though Adrien assured her that she didn't look it, inwardly her heart was racing and she felt almost sick as she waited for Master Fu to respond.

Her heart thudded against her ribs when Master Fu's expression darkened, and she actually thought he might yell.

'I hope he doesn't,' Adrien thought, and it was a thought accompanied by a fleeting shadow of raised voices and angry parents.

She stiffened, squaring her shoulders and lifting her head. Suddenly, she didn't care if Master Fu got upset with them. She didn't even care if he yelled. She would bear his reaction with grace so long as he didn't direct one word of _anything_ towards Adrien.

'Marinette,' Adrien thought. 'You don't have to protect me that way.'

'Yes, I do,' she thought without even looking at him. Because no one had _ever_ protected Adrien that way, and he was her partner, and he deserved to know what it was like to be loved.

"You feel very strongly about this," Master Fu said at last, and it was such a composed response that both Marinette and Adrien looked at him in surprise.

Marinette recovered first, nodding. "Yes, we both do. But it was my decision." She cast him a challenging look. Much to her surprise, Master Fu merely smiled.

"I understand now why Tikki likes you so much as a Ladybug," he said thoughtfully. "Very well. In recognition of everything you have done in your time as heroes, I will trust you on this and agree to allow Mlle Bourgeois to keep the Bee miraculous as long as she agrees to abide by the same rules as the two of you. Meaning, she must not tell anyone her identity." He gave them stern looks. "Intentionally or accidentally. And she must never use her powers for evil or selfish purposes."

"She won't," Adrien said confidently. "Thank you, Master Fu."

Master Fu inclined his head slightly. "You both have my gratitude for retrieving the missing miraculouses and the book," he said, lowering his gaze to the table. "I will be much more careful with them in the future."

"Good," Marinette said. "I don't ever want to face another Hawkmoth, and I can't even imagine how much of a pain it would have been to face both Hawkmoth and someone using the Peacock miraculous."

"It _is_ unusual that Hawkmoth didn't use the Peacock miraculous. I would have thought he’d want to use every weapon at his disposal," Master Fu said.

"Not really. My father didn't have anyone he trusted that much," Adrien said. _Maybe_ Nathalie - but really, probably not even her.

"Hmm," Master Fu said, but he didn't add anything else. Instead, he picked up the Peacock and Butterfly miraculous and turned to put them back where they belonged.

'Chloé is going to be ecstatic,' Marinette thought.

Adrien smiled. 'I can't wait to tell her. You want to go as soon as we leave here?'

Marinette shook her head slightly. 'No. You go. I know we were supposed to go have ice cream, but I think I need a rain check. I have something else that I need to do before we talk to my parents.'

He knew exactly what she was planning, of course, and his warm acceptance of her plan made Marinette smile back. 

"Did you need anything else?" Master Fu asked, closing the miraculous box and picking up the book. "I don't mean to kick you both out, but I don't like to leave the shop closed too long."

"No. Thanks," Marinette said, getting up. Master Fu had frustrated them a lot, but in the end he had come through. She thought that they could work well with him from now on, especially since it seemed like Master Fu might be more willing to listen to them in the future now that he realized both she and Adrien knew what they were walking about.

As soon as they were outside, Adrien let out a semi-hysterical laugh. "My god, Mari, you really don't hold back when you're mad."

"It worked, didn't it?" she said, putting a hand over her heart. "I was nervous, but - if that's what it takes to make Master Fu listen to us, then I will always stand up for you. For us. For our team."

"I love you so much," Adrien murmured, pulling her into a kiss.

'I love you too,' Marinette thought, since her mouth was otherwise occupied.

But unfortunately, they didn't have much time to linger. Their ice cream was going to have to wait. Adrien transformed and went off to tell Chloé the good news in person, while Marinette took the long way towards her destination. She spent the whole way there mentally rehearsing what she was going to say, though she did take a quick break to peek through Adrien's eyes when he told Chloé that she could keep the Bee miraculous. The stunned expression on Chloé's face, which quickly melted into a look of awe mixed with a tearful smile, was one Marinette would remember forever.

She could only hope that Alya took this news that well.

"I'm coming!" Alya's voice called out when Marinette knocked on the door. A moment later, the door swung open. Alya blinked in surprise at seeing Marinette there.

"Hi," Marinette said. 

"Hi?" Alya said, confused. "Did we - did we have plans?"

"No. I just wanted to talk," Marinette said. "I've got something to tell you. Can we go to your room?"

"Sure," Alya said. "Mom! Marinette's here. We're going to my room." She led Marinette down the hall and ushered her inside, quickly shutting the door.

"Ella and Etta around?" Marinette asked knowingly.

"They should be home any minute. Now. Please tell me you're not here to say you and Adrien are breaking up," Alya said, clasping her hands together.

"What?!" Marinette said, shocked. "Of course not!" Adrien's indignation at the very idea blossomed in the back of her mind.

"Oh thank god. I thought maybe Lila had driven a wedge between you guys after all," Alya admitted. “I would’ve felt awful if that was the case. 

"No, nothing like that. I just - there's something I need to tell you. And I know you're going to be upset... or I think you will be, but I really want you to hear from it me and I -"

"Marinette, just tell me!" Alya said.

"Adrien and I are soulmates," Marinette blurted out. She was vaguely aware that Adrien and Chloé were hugging and crying, but she couldn't focus on them. She concentrated on Alya's expression, which went from shock to realization to a frown.

"You're soulmates," Alya repeated woodenly, staring at her.

"Yes. When we met that night at Chloé's party, the summer before I met you, I said his words and he said mine," Marinette said, pressing a hand to her chest. Neither she nor Adrien could have possibly imagined where that night would bring them.

Alya just kept staring at her. "I don't really know what to do with that information," she said. "Why didn't you tell me?" Hurt was seeping into her voice.

Marinette sighed. "We didn't tell anyone. My parents don't even know. We couldn't."

"Why not?"

"Because of Adrien's dad. You don't know what he's like. He would've been really mad if he found out Adrien had a soulmate. We were afraid he'd try to put blocks up in Adrien's mind," Marinette explained. "Or that he would’ve forbidden Adrien from seeing me. We couldn't risk telling anyone, just on the off chance that the information might make it back to him."

“He’s really that bad?” Alya asked, her frown deepening.

Marinette nodded. “He really is.”

"Okay… but we're friends. You could've trusted me. I wouldn’t have said anything to anyone," Alya said.

"I know that now. I didn't when we met," Marinette said gently. "By the time I knew I could trust you, I didn't know how to tell you."

Alya frowned. "So what changed?"

"Now that Adrien's dad is going to jail, I think we have to tell my parents to keep Adrien in Paris," Marinette said. "I didn't want it to get back to you. Not without telling you myself."

"I guess I appreciate that," Alya said slowly. "And I guess this explains why you and Adrien are so close, and why it always seemed like you know what each other is thinking..." She looked back at Marinette. "You must have your shields down enough to talk."

"We can talk," Marinette agreed, carefully omitting any mention of shields. No one, except for maybe her parents, really needed to know that she and Adrien had no shields between them.

"Oh damn. I feel so stupid for going along with Lila," Alya groaned, facepalming. "No wonder you got so mad."

"It was pretty annoying. I'm not gonna lie," Marinette said. "Lila's lucky Gabriel Agreste never caught wind of her rumors, or she would've been having a very unpleasant conversation with him."

"Maybe we should've told him," Alya muttered. She was quiet for a moment, frowning at the floor, and Marinette bit her lip. Adrien was her soulmate, and she was friends with Chloé by extension. Alya was the first friend Marinette had made on her own, and she didn't want to lose her.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you sooner,” Marinette offered.

Alya sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me when Lila showed up and started saying she was Adrien’s soulmate? I wouldn’t have believed Lila then.”

That made Marinette frown at her. “Alya, you should have believed Adrien and me even without us telling you that we were soulmates,” she said sternly. 

“I guess,” Alya mumbled, though she still looked put out. Marinette bit her lip, worried.

I hope that we can still be friends," she said hesitantly.

Alya's head shot up. "What? Don't be stupid. Of course we're still friends. _Best_ friends. I'm a little mad, and I feel dumb for not figuring it out on my own because in retrospect it was kinda obvious, but I'll get over it."

Marinette breathed a sigh of relief, smiling as that emotion echoed down the bond to Adrien. A reverberation that Marinette could only describe as purrs came back to her. He was relieved too, and very happy that Chloé had cried happy tears over being referred to as his sister.

"Hug?" Marinette said, opening her arms.

"Sure," Alya said with a small smile, and hugged her.


	29. Spill the tea

Chat was flying high as he made his way towards Marinette's home. The sun was just beginning to set, leaving Paris bathed in a dusky rose glow. It was a beautiful sight, especially because now he knew for sure that the city wasn't in danger anymore. They didn't need to worry about an akuma jumping out from around the corner; he could go to the bakery and have dinner with Marinette's family, and the only thing he really needed to worry about was Marinette's father trying to kill him once Tom found out the truth.

Marinette's laughter filled the bond. 'You're so dramatic!'

'What? It could happen,' Chat thought, letting himself fall off the roof. He did a somersault in mid-air and landed nimbly on his feet right in front of her, flashing her a smile. She rolled her eyes in response and shook her head.

"It'll be fine," she said softly, taking his hand. "My parents will understand."

"I hope so," Chat said. He never wanted to be the thing that came between Marinette and her parents - and no matter how much she reassured him otherwise, he couldn't quite convince himself that that wouldn't be the case.

"Detransform and let's find out," Marinette said. She was nervous, but determined.

"Plagg, claws in," Chat said. One flash of green light later, he was shoving a whining Plagg into his pocket along with a wedge of cheese. Marinette chuckled at their antics and tugged him forward by way of their laced fingers.

They walked the short distance to the bakery together. One thing that Adrien had always envied about the Dupain-Cheng family was that Marinette's parents always took the time to have dinner with her. The bakery didn't close until after dinner, but Sabine would leave it in the hands of a capable, part-time employee and retire upstairs for an hour or so. Their family always ate and cleaned up together, and only then would Tom and Sabine go back downstairs to finish up for the day while Marinette went upstairs to do her homework or go out on patrol. 

Tonight was no different. As they entered the bakery, a young man that Adrien didn't recognize smiled and greeted Marinette cheerfully. Marinette smiled back before pulling Adrien past the counter and into the back. They headed up the stairs to the apartment, where a delicious smell met them when Marinette opened the door. Adrien's stomach growled hungrily. 

"Do I hear the sound of a hungry kid?" Sabine asked merrily. "Ah, Adrien! Are you joining us tonight?"

"Um, if it's not too much trouble," Adrien said.

Sabine shook her head. "You are never trouble! I've told you before, you're welcome here anytime. Marinette, set an extra place at the table, would you?"

"Of course, Maman." Marinette winked at him, squeezed his hand one last time, and walked over to pull out another place setting.

"Sit down, dear," Sabine urged. "Dinner is just about ready. I hope you like stew. I threw some ingredients in the pot at lunch time, so it's been cooking all day."

"I love it," Adrien said, even though he didn't think he'd ever had stew before. He sat down in the seat that Marinette pointed him to. Marinette finished her task and then sat down beside him.

"Adrien, my boy!" Tom said as he came up the stairs carrying a basket of warm bread. "How are you? What's new? Spill the milk!"

"Papa," Marinette said, sighing. "It's spill the _tea_."

"Tea, right." Tom wrinkled his nose. "I don't really understand why anyone would deliberately spill milk, never mind tea. It's very hot."

"No one is actually spilling tea. It's an expression." Marinette was so full of resigned exasperation that Adrien had to hide a smile, especially when Tom winked at him. Sabine gently elbowed her husband before turning to Adrien.

"We heard about your father, Adrien. We're so sorry," she said kindly, sobering Adrien's mood.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

"Are you staying in Paris?" Tom asked, looking at him worriedly.

"Uh... I'm not sure yet," Adrien said.

"That's part of what we wanted to talk to you about," Marinette said.

Tom and Sabine exchanged looks. Adrien watched them with fascination. Had his parents ever looked like that when they looked at each other? They may have been having a mental conversation, but that was unmistakably an expression of affection. He couldn’t remember much affection between his parents.

"Alright," Sabine said at last. "Let's get some food on the table and we'll talk."

In short time they all had a big bowl of stew and a couple pieces of bread in front of them, and Tom and Sabine were looking at them expectantly. Adrien's mouth went dry. He didn't think he could speak.

Yet Marinette remained quiet, and her nerves were off the chart: she just _couldn't_.

So he forced himself to speak for her.

"My aunt and cousin are my only living family. They live in London. I would prefer to stay here in Paris where my friends and school are," Adrien said. He paused to wet his lips with a sip of water and Sabine spoke up.

"Staying here means more attention on you when your father eventually goes to trial," she pointed out.

"I know, and that sucks, but there are things here I don't want to give up. No, things here I _can't_ give up," Adrien said, glancing at Marinette.

Tom’s eyes flicked between them and he said slowly, "Marinette?"

"We're soulmates," Adrien said, letting the word roll off his tongue. It felt strange to say it out loud in front of people after so long of keeping it quiet.

Sabine gasped. Tom inhaled sharply.

"It's my fault. I asked Marinette to keep it quiet because of my father," Adrien said in a rush, suddenly scared that they would blame her. "He was - he wouldn't have agreed to let me be with her, I think. He would've tried to install blocks between us, even though I didn't want that, or he would’ve freaked out about our image. And - and I was also worried about my fans, but I don't think they'll be a big deal now. I plan to take a step back from modelling no matter what happens, and they'll forget me pretty quickly."

"No one could forget you," Marinette said, putting her hand on his arm. Adrien tried to smile at her, but the gravity of the situation was too heavy.

"I'm sorry," he added.

"I'm sorry too, Maman, Papa. I know I should've told you before," Marinette said, looking worriedly at her parents.

Again, Tom and Sabine looked at each other. The silence dragged on. Adrien put his hand over Marinette's, their hearts racing with apprehension.

Finally, Tom sighed. "Well, I can't say I was expecting this," he said to no one in particular. "Marinette, you really should have told us. I understand why you didn't tell Monsieur Agreste, but that doesn't explain why you didn't tell _us_."

Marinette shrugged, not looking at either of her parents. "It was a fun secret at first," she said in a small voice. All her reasons for wanting to keep it quiet, Adrien knew, seemed silly now. 

"Well." Sabine picked up her water glass and drank from it. When she lowered it, she said again, "Well. I'm not really sure what to say."

"Say you'll help us!" Marinette said, lifting her head with an imploring expression. "Adrien can't leave Paris, Maman. He just can't!"

"Marinette, that's not up to us," Sabine said gently. "That's up to Adrien's aunt."

"But there are soulmate laws, right?" Marinette asked.

Tom stroked his chin. "There _are_ exemptions that can be made for soulmates, but you two are still young." He eyed them critically. "It would really come down to what your aunt thinks. Would she be amenable to you staying here, Adrien?"

"I don't know," Adrien admitted. "I haven't talked to her about it."

"Even if she wasn't, we could fight her," Marinette said fiercely. "We could take her to court and fight her!"

"Your papa and I don't have that kind of money," Sabine told her. She held up a hand to forestall Marinette's next remark. "But we would be willing to go talk to your aunt with you, Adrien, if you'd like to have us there."

Adrien nodded silently. The comment about money made his throat close up. Right now the future of Gabriel's business was in question. Nathalie was handling things in the interim, but Adrien was way too young to run a company. He knew his father had money, but he also knew that his father would be hiring legal representation for himself. There was also the chance that much of Gabriel's accounts would be frozen while the courts figured out what he was guilty of.

'We'll figure it out,' Marinette thought, squeezing his arm so hard it hurt. 

"Thanks," Adrien whispered.

"It'll be okay, honey," Sabine said, reaching over and putting her hand atop Adrien's and Marinette's. "And thank you both for telling us the truth. I'm so happy that Marinette has found her soulmate, and that it's a wonderful young man like you." She smiled at Adrien, and it was a smile so kind and gentle that Adrien could've cried. 

"I wanted you to know," Marinette said, gulping, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry for hiding it."

Tom's face softened and he stood up, moving around the table to pull Marinette into a hug. Sabine stood up too, and Adrien was shocked when she stepped closer and hugged him. Somehow, he and Marinette ended up huddled together with her parents hugging the _both_ of them. It was a hug so full of familial affection that it was overwhelming. This time, Adrien couldn't hold back the tears. Marinette cried too, her dark hair falling across his shoulder as she pressed their damp cheeks together.

Sabine just kissed their heads. "It'll be okay, my dears. It'll be okay."


	30. Beach

The next morning, Adrien awoke to rain. The sound of it against his windows was actually what woke him; he rubbed his eyes as he crawled out of bed and fumbled his way over to the window. Cracking the curtains a bit revealed that Paris was swamped in dark clouds. Even as he watched, a particularly harsh gust of wind rattled the glass and he flinched back. 

It was certainly no day for the beach. Not even a day for anyone to be out and about. He immediately started to worry about Marinette and her parents - they were supposed to be at the mansion in less than an hour. His concern woke Marinette, who gave a sleepy mumble. It only took her a moment to figure out where it was coming from, and then she sighed.

'Ah, _Chaton_ , relax. We're not made of pastry. We won't melt,' she thought, stretching. 

'I know. I just hate to see you get wet because of me,' Adrien thought.

'I won't get wet. This cute guy I know gave me an umbrella once, and I still have it,' Marinette thought.

Adrien smiled in spite of himself, remembering that day. It had been just after their first fight as Ladybug and Chat Noir, before Tikki and Plagg even knew that they were soulmates. That was the first time he'd told Marinette that he liked her as more than just a friend or soulmate, and she had reciprocated his feelings. It seemed so long ago, even though in reality it had been just a couple of months ago. They'd gone through so much since then.

'And we'll get through this too,' Marinette thought, pushing love and tender affection through the bond. 'So stop worrying, okay?'

'I'll try,' Adrien thought. He closed the curtains and got up, deciding that he should shower and get dressed before Marinette and her parents arrived. He grabbed a change of clothes and disappeared into the bathroom for a long, hot shower.

"Good luck, kid," Plagg said as Adrien emerged from the bathroom several minutes later.

"Thanks Plagg," Adrien said, fishing half a package of Camembert out of the fridge. He gave it to his kwami and smiled again as Plagg pounced on it.

'We're here,' Marinette thought.

'Okay, we're coming down,' Adrien thought, picking up his now sleepy kwami. He tucked Plagg into his pocket and left his room, reaching the stairs just as Amélie was opening the door.

"Good morning," Amélie said. "You must be Marinette. Adrien's mentioned you."

"Hi," Marinette said with a shy smile. She looked beautiful in a blue sundress that perfectly matched her eyes and, sure enough, she was holding the umbrella Adrien had given her back then. Their eyes met, and Marinette winked at him.

"And you are?" Amélie looked curiously at Tom and Sabine.

"We're Marinette's parents. I'm Tom Dupain and this is my wife, Sabine Cheng," Tom said. "Adrien asked us if we could drop by."

"Oh." Amélie seemed a bit confused, but she readily stepped back to allow the Dupain-Chengs in. That in itself was a vast difference to Gabriel, who wouldn't have even allowed the family across the threshold.

"I needed to tell you something and I wanted Marinette and her parents to be here," Adrien explained as he came down the stairs.

Amélie raised an eyebrow. "Okay... Why don't we go sit at the kitchen table? I think the chef was just setting breakfast out."

Félix was already in there, sitting at his place. He too raised an eyebrow when he saw them, which made him look uncannily like his mother. Adrien ignored him as he escorted Marinette to a seat and then sat beside her. Amélie took a seat beside her son, and then Tom and Sabine sat to Marinette's and Adrien's left. There was an abundance of food on the table - Adrien may or may not have mentioned to the chef last night that they would have guests for breakfast this morning - and one of the maids quickly scurried in with three more place settings. When she was gone, a heavy silence descended.

'Go ahead,' Marinette thought, looking at Adrien.

Adrien took a deep breath. "Aunt Amélie, I don't want to move to London. I want to stay here with Marinette. She's my soulmate."

Amélie's eyes widened. "Your... what? Your father didn't mention that," she said, looking between them incredulously.

"I didn't tell him," Adrien confessed. "I wasn't sure how he would react."

Félix snorted. "I think we _all_ know how he would've reacted," he muttered.

"Félix," Amélie said, never looking away from Marinette and Adrien. "Please."

"I know this comes as a surprise," Sabine said to Amélie. "Marinette only told us last night, and we were shocked too."

"It's not what I expected," Amélie admitted. "I - this does complicate things a little. I knew you would find it a bit of a struggle to move to London, Adrien, but... I hope you can understand that I can't move here. My whole life is in London... my job, Félix's school, everything."

"I know," Adrien said, shoulders slumping. It wasn't fair for him to want his cousin and aunt to move to Paris. He knew that. And yet...

He exchanged miserable looks with Marinette.

"And Madame Sancoeur has made it clear her time with your family is limited," Amélie continued. "She's willing to continue working for your father's company, should it survive, but she wants to step away in a personal capacity. So I'm just not sure..." She trailed off, frowning.

"If I may," Tom said, glancing at his wife. Sabine nodded at him, and Tom continued. "Adrien is a wonderful young man. Sabine and I would be happy to have him live with us."

"What?" Adrien said, shocked.

"What?!" Marinette gasped. "Oh, Papa! Maman!"

Amélie looked very surprised by the offer. "I couldn't ask you to do that. Adrien is my responsibility now."

"You're not asking, we're offering," Sabine told her with a smile. "We live just down the road from the children's school, and we have an empty guest room."

"It wouldn't be a big deal at all," Tom added. "I could even teach him how to make bread." He grinned over at Adrien, who was too filled with painful hope to respond even though he loved the idea of learning to bake.

Amélie didn't say anything for a moment, looking thoughtful. Then she said, "Adrien, is that something you would like?"

"Yes!" Adrien exclaimed. 

"We'd have to work out the financial aspect," Amélie said to Tom and Sabine. "I couldn't allow you two to pay for him. A child is expensive, especially a growing boy." She shot Félix a small smile. Félix rolled his eyes and shoved a piece of buttered toast in his mouth.

"We can talk about that later," Tom said with a wave of his hand. "We just wanted to put this on the table for now."

"Well, I'll have to think about it. But I appreciate your offer, and I'm sure Adrien does too," Amélie said. "I just don't know if I'd feel comfortable with Adrien being here all the time..." She laced her fingers together.

"Adrien could travel!" Marinette piped up. "It's less than three hours to London by train."

Adrien nodded quickly. "I could! I totally could!"

"You'd have to come every second weekend," Amélie said. "One weekend a month, Marinette could come with you if she wanted to."

Marinette looked delighted by that. "Really?"

Amélie smiled. "Of course. I'd like to get to know my future niece-in-law," she said. "And for holidays, I'd like it if you spent the majority of them with us... but I wouldn't be opposed to the occasional holiday here. Plus you'd have to come stay with Félix and me for at least half of your summer vacation."

"Sure," Adrien said. He was willing to agree to _anything_ if she would only give her permission.

Under the table, Marinette's hand slipped into his and he gripped her hand tightly.

"Of course, those terms would have to be okay with you too," Amélie went on, turning to Sabine and Tom.

"We'd have to talk about it, but I'm sure that would be fine," Sabine said.

"Then I'm okay with it," Amélie said.

Adrien stared at her. "You mean... I can stay?"

Amélie looked at him, and her eyes suddenly got a bit teary. "Oh, Adrien. You're the only thing I have left of my sister. I would love it if you wanted to live with me and Félix all the time; I've hated the time that your father kept us from seeing you. But I also understand that you have your own life, and that you wouldn't be happy if I made you move. I don't want that. You're my only nephew; I want you to be happy." She started to reach out, then paused - hand hovering in the air uncertainly, like she wasn't sure if Adrien would be okay with it.

Marinette gave him a gentle, mental nudge. When he glanced at Tom and Sabine, they were both smiling at him. Even Félix was giving him an expectant look. And through the fabric of his shirt, he could feel Plagg pointedly poking him in the chest.

So slowly, Adrien reached out and took his aunt’s hand. It was a strange feeling, especially when she tightened her fingers around his hand and gave him a tearful smile. 

Was this what it was like to have a family member who actually cared about you and your happiness?

“Thank you,” he said quietly, not knowing what else to say. “This plan… that would make me happy.”

“Then okay,” Amélie said, wrapping her free arm around Félix’s shoulders, still holding tightly to Adrien’s hand. “That’s what we’ll do.”


	31. My Prince

"What do you think, son?" Tom asked, straightening the covers on the bed. He stood back and surveyed the room, then added, "I know it's probably a bit smaller than what you're used to, but -"

"It's perfect," Adrien said, a warm glow filling his chest. Tom had called him 'son'. _Him_. 

He looked around at the room, which admittedly was about a third of the size of what he was used to. It was laid out similarly to Marinette's, with a loft bed. A desk had been set underneath the bed for his computer and schoolwork. On the opposite wall was a large bookcase which held all of his books, his games, and his DVDs. Next to that was his television and gaming consoles. Then there was a large window which caught the sun in the early morning. Adrien had already checked - if he stuck his head out the window and twisted to the right, Marinette's balcony was just a hop away.

The closet was only about half full, mostly because Adrien had left a lot of his clothes behind. Amélie had looked like she wanted to spit nails when she realized that almost all of Adrien’s clothing was made by _Gabriel_. On the one hand, it made sense. On the other hand, it meant Adrien was constantly a walking, talking advertise for his father’s company. Amélie had promised that he could get some new clothing this coming weekend, and Adrien was looking forward to it.

It had only been two weeks since Amélie had given her official permission for Adrien to move in with the Dupain-Chengs. Things had moved very quickly since then. Émilie's second funeral had been held on a quiet Sunday morning. Gabriel, of course, had not been in attendance. Adrien hadn't spoken to his father since the day Hawkmoth had been arrested, and he was perfectly fine with that.

This past weekend had been spent moving all of his things into the Dupain-Cheng’s spare bedroom. For now, the mansion was going to remain empty. Amélie and Félix had returned to London because Félix couldn't stay out of school any longer. But Amélie had promised that they would both come up on the train next weekend, and the weekend after that Adrien and Marinette were going to go to London to stay with them. Adrien was looking forward to that, but of course he had to deal with this week first. He hadn't been back to school since his father's arrest.

In short, the room might have been smaller, and it was a tiny bit crowded because Adrien had way more stuff than he had ever realized he did, but it was the manifestation of Adrien's dreams because it had been prepared for him by people who cared. Not just by an interior designer who was only interested in collecting a considerable paycheck.

"Well, I don't know about that," Tom said, drawing Adien’s attention back to him, but he gave a pleased smile.

'Adrien, we're going to be late for school,' Marinette thought.

"I have to go; we're going to be late," Adrien said out loud.

Tom chuckled. "Marinette remind you? That's a new one. Usually she's running downstairs at the last minute."

The flush of indignation through the bond made Adrien smile. "She heard that."

"The truth hurts," Tom said, a twinkle in his eye as he picked up Adrien's backpack. He passed it to Adrien. "Are you kids coming right home after school?"

"I think we might go get ice cream with our friends," Adrien said, slightly uncertain.

"That's fine," Tom said. "Your curfew is the same as Marinette's."

"Uh... okay?" Adrien said. "I can just... go?"

Tom's smile faded, replaced by a more serious expression. "Adrien, we told you that you didn't have to keep doing all those lessons and being a model unless you wanted to. You said you didn't want to. Did you change your mind?"

Adrien shook his head. "No."

"Then yes, you can just go when you want. Within reason, of course. But Sabine and I didn't invite you to live here so that we could control your every move," Tom said, gently patting Adrien's shoulder. "Now I have to get back downstairs to the bakery, and you need to get going. We're both going to have annoyed soulmates on our hands otherwise."

"Thanks," Adrien said quietly, and Tom smiled again at him.

'I told you,' Marinette thought, but it was kindly. 

'I know you did. It's just hard to wrap my head around,' Adrien thought, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. Not having every minute of the day scheduled was going to be an adjustment – but a nice one.

He followed Tom downstairs and found Marinette waiting for him. She greeted him with a smile, a kiss to his cheek, and a warm scone. As Adrien took a bite of the scone, she slipped a couple wedges of cheese into his pocket for Plagg.

'I love you,' Adrien thought, and she laughed.

'I love you too,' she thought. 'Now come on!'

They made it to class a few minutes before the bell rang. Madame Bustier wasn't there yet, and neither was Lila. Adrien found himself to be a little glad about that as he took a seat beside Chloé. She looked really good today, wearing a white sundress, black knee-high boots, and a cropped yellow cardigan. The Bee miraculous was a perfect accessory for her color-coordinated outfit.

"So how's the new place?" Chloé asked, propping her chin on her hand.

"It's really, really good," Adrien said, smiling. Chloé had also offered him a room at the hotel, which he appreciated. It was nice to know he had options. He also liked that she had accepted that he was going to stay at Marinette’s without argument. He thought that Chloé might have finally understood how important she was to him, but more than that she had finally _accepted_ it. 

"Whenever you need a break, you can come play video games with me," Nino said from across the aisle.

"A break from what, exactly?" Marinette said, leaning over her desk and narrowing her eyes.

"Uh," Nino said. He cleared his throat. "I mean, whenever you need some guy time."

"I'll keep that in mind," Adrien said, trying not to laugh.

The door slid open and Lila came in. Adrien sighed to himself as he watched Marinette catch Chloé's eye. Both girls had an identical expression of mischief on their faces.

'I never should have made the two of you friends,' he thought.

'You shush,' Marinette thought at him. 'Let us have our fun.'

"Don't be ridiculous," Chloé said loudly, her voice perfectly pitched to carry. "Adrien won't need a break from his _soulmate_."

Instant silence.

"Wait, what?" Rose said in surprise. "Soulmate? Adrien found his soulmate?"

Chloé swung around to face her. "Yeah. He moved in with his soulmate over the weekend."

"Who is it?" Mylène asked, pointedly not looking at Lila.

"It's me," Marinette said, and she deliberately looked at Lila.

Lila's jaw dropped.

The class exploded.

"What the hell?!"

"Are you serious?!"

"Oh my god!"

Marinette's delight in the shocked, embarrassed look on Lila's face was enough to make Adrien smile too, though he tried to hide it. Chloé’s smirk stretched from ear to ear. They really were terrible, but there was no downplaying it now.

"Yes, we're serious," Adrien said, turning to face their classmates. 

"So you've been soulmates this whole time?" Alix said, eyes wide. She looked like she was rethinking a lot, like two plus two was suddenly adding up to four when all along they’d thought it was three.

"Yup. They kept it secret because Adrien's dad is a jerk," Chloé said, idly examining her nails. Then she looked up with an innocent expression. "I knew because I was there when it happened at Daddy's party. Marinette tripped and dumped macarons all over Adrien."

Marinette flushed as everyone laughed.

"Did you have to tell them that?" she complained. “It was just _a couple_ macarons! Not a whole tray!”

“I’m not sure that helps, Marinette,” Alya said, still giggling. 

Chloé grinned. "But either way it's still true. Right, Adrikins?"

Adrien nodded. "The 100% truth, but I thought it was adorable," he said, giving Marinette a soft look. Marinette’s ire faded and she smiled back.

Lila's face was getting steadily redder. She had clearly worked out that Marinette and Adrien had been soulmates all along, but all she said was, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Why should I?" Adrien said coolly. "The people who needed to know already did."

Chloé snickered. "Yeah, so you basically spent like three weeks pretending you were a soulmate to a guy who already one," she told Lila. "And the rest of you thought Marinette and Adrien should break up!"

There were various guilty and uncomfortable looks, Alya included. Lila just looked even more embarrassed. 

"Like Chloé said, we can tell people now because Adrien's dad isn't an issue," Marinette said, bringing the attention back to her. "He can't keep us apart. No one can." Her tone was challenging, and she looked Lila right in the eyes.

Lila looked away - and then, without a word, she slunk up the steps and sat down in the back row in what would normally be Nathaniel's place, but he was out sick today. Marinette looked satisfied as she lifted up her bag and set it on the empty seat beside her.

The rest of the class peppered Marinette and Adrien with questions until Madame Bustier arrived. She had already been told about this - Tom and Sabine had contacted the school to let them know last week - so she wasn't surprised to see it was the topic of conversation. She just smiled and gently urged the class to take out their books. No one heard a peep out of Lila for the rest of the day, and when classes let out, Lila grabbed her stuff, ran down the stairs, and out the door.

Adrien watched her go and didn’t feel bad. Lila had brought everything on herself. If she hadn’t made such a big deal of it, no one would have said a word to her about this. He didn’t think anyone would tease her too badly, but as word about him and Marinette spread, Lila was going to have to deal with the consequences of her lies. This might even lead to more and more people realizing she had been lying all along. It seemed like a fitting punishment.

‘Damn straight,’ Marinette thought, getting up. ‘Now, you and Chloé hurry up! I want ice cream.’

"Wanna come get ice cream?" Adrien said to Chloé, who seemed surprised by the invitation but nodded. 

So it was that Adrien, Marinette, Chloé, Nino, and Alya made their way to André's little cart. André whipped up a concoction for Nino and Alya first, loudly proclaiming them to be an adorable couple who deserved a blend of coconut, pistachio and mango ice cream. Then he turned to Chloé. He looked at her for a moment, eyes narrowed in thought, then smiled and gave her two scoops: one of banana ice cream and one of chocolate. Chloé took her ice cream cone, looking pretty content, and stepped aside. Then it was Adrien's and Marinette's turn. They stepped up together.

"Ah, young love," André said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "I will get you something special. Yellow passionfruit to match _his_ hair, blackberry for _her_ hair..." He quickly scooped two balls of ice cream onto a cone, then added a third. "And lastly, blueberry peach to match her sky-blue stare and his pink lips! A perfect combination indeed!" He offered Adrien the ice cream cone.

"Thank you," Adrien said, taking the cone carefully. The combination of flavors was unusual but sounded delicious.

André tipped his hat to them. "A good day to you, my friends!" And then he headed off, whistling.

'Would you like the first taste, My Lady?' Adrien thought, scooping up a bit with the spoon and offering it to Marinette.

'Thank you, My Prince,' she thought back, her eyes twinkling, and opened her mouth. A flow of contentment came through the bond, so Adrien quickly scooped up some for himself to try. It really was as good as it had sounded. The fresh fruit taste danced across his tongue: a perfect medley of tart and sweet.

"Marinette, Adrien! Come on! Let's go walk along the Seine!" Alya called.

Adrien looked over at them, realizing that their three friends had walked ahead without them. Alya and Nino were chowing down on their ice cream, while Chloé was furtively sneaking tiny spoonful’s into her pocket for Pollen when Alya and Nino weren't looking. 

It was nice. Nice to enjoy the warm afternoon sunshine with his soulmate, his _partner_ , and their friends. Nice to not have to worry about familial or work pressure or akumas. Nice to see Chloé smiling and laughing with Alya and Nino.

He didn’t know what would happen with his father. But frankly, right now he didn’t care. He’d deal with it, like he had dealt with everything else, with Marinette at his side. The knowledge that his partner would be there was more than enough. They could deal with anything that came their way, especially with the help of their friends and family. His father couldn’t control him or anyone else anymore, and that was strangely freeing.

"I didn't know it could be like this," he murmured, more to himself than to anyone else, but of course Marinette heard. She smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Aren't you glad I dropped those macarons on you now?" she asked playfully, and Adrien chuckled.

"I was glad for that from day one, but yeah. I really am," he said, pressing a quick kiss to her mouth. She tasted like fruity sugar. 

But of course, the kiss only lasted for a moment before Alya called to them again. Adrien and Marinette ran to catch them. The five of them ended up finding a small spot on the banks of the Seine to sit and enjoy the sun. Adrien distracted Alya and Nino so that Marinette could sneak some ice cream to Tikki too. Even Plagg ate a little bit of it, though not before informing Marinette in a hissed whisper that cheese ice cream would've been a much better choice. Adrien would treasure Marinette's disgusted expression and feelings for the rest of his day.

For once, there was something right with the world, Adrien decided, when a fourteen-year-old boy could have this much fun with his friends on a lazy Monday afternoon. He smiled around at them all and wrapped his arm around Marinette's shoulders, contentedly breathing in the smell of her shampoo and basking in the contentment flowing through their bond. Chloé leaned against him on the other side, and Adrien wrapped an arm around her shoulders too. Nino, laughing, stole Alya's phone and leaned over to show them something on the screen, while Alya pouted and poked at him. Eventually Nino gave her phone back, and then gave her a kiss for good measure.

"Eww, no public displays of affection please!" Chloé said.

"Alya, stop kissing your boyfriend and show me that write-up you did of the new Fox and Turtle," Marinette said.

Nino sighed as Alya jerked away. "Rude, Mari."

"You'll survive," Marinette said with a grin.

"They were so cool!" Alya said gleefully, and Chloé gave a quiet, amused little snort. Marinette giggled too.

Adrien closed his eyes as their playful banter swirled around him, lifting his face to the sun like the cat that he was, and relaxed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, this series is officially over! Please do **not** ask for another sequel or any one shots in this verse because the answer is no; this triology is already two stories longer than it should have been (144,000 words!!!) and I feel things are done here.
> 
> I will not be doing Smutember this year. I am exhausted after six straight months of daily updates (that's amounted to over 230,000 words just for this, you know?). Getting Blueberry Peach out was a lot harder than it should have been and I need a break. But thank you for your kind comments, kudos, and hits. I appreciate everyone who stuck with me for so long.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


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